Sikes Shoes
Photo by Keith McCoy
0213 Sikes
Sikes owner Frank Youngs
The wildly popular TV series The Little Rascals hit the airwaves in 1955. That same year on Valentine’s Day, Sikes Shoes opened for business.
“Frankie Sikes always said that every city needs one good children’s shoe store,” current owner Frank Youngs said.
Youngs married into the Sikes family in the early 1960s, and his father-in-law offered him a position with the store.
“I’d just graduated from the University of Alabama as a marketing major and needed a job,” Youngs said.
Fortunately the work suited him.
Sikes opened a second store in Vestavia, and Youngs moved to that store in 1968. He stayed there until 1991, when he bought the business from Sikes’ son.
The location at 2920 18th Street is situated perfectly to service not only Homewood customers, but also customers in surrounding neighborhoods such as in Mountain Brook, Vestavia and Hoover.
“We have customers who come from Tuscaloosa, Huntsville and Montgomery to shop at our store,” Youngs said, adding he thinks it’s because the business has stayed true to its original mission of carrying only quality footwear and providing great service.
Some businesses complain about the impact the Internet and big-box stores have had on small businesses, but Youngs said he’s kept customers by offering quality shoes for kids that are guaranteed to fit. The clerks know how to measure a child’s feet and fit them with shoes that wear properly, according to Youngs. Unlike Walmart, when you come into Sikes Shoes, you will see a familiar face.
“Our people have been here for 10 and 15 years,” he said, pointing out that one woman who works at his Jack and Jill children’s clothing store next door has been working there 30 years.
The iconic store runs like a well-oiled machine, according to Youngs.
“I don’t do a lot of work, I have great employees who handle the day- to-day operations,” he said. “The business is like a pretty good train on the track. My job is to keep it there.”
The rewarding thing for Youngs is that families have bought shoes at Sikes for generations. “We have young mothers who got their shoes at Sikes as a child, bring their kids in for their first pair of shoes,” he said.
There’s a lot of talk about changing demographics in Homewood, but Youngs said he doesn’t see it. The only thing different now is that it seems some young mothers are looking for “the next hot thing” in shoes. Youngs said chasing trends is a fast way to lose your shirt, so to speak.
“You can’t get too far off track on trends. I also don’t plan to try and ‘out Walmart’ Walmart.”
Youngs had four sons with his first wife Nancy, and later became a stepfather to a son and daughter by his second wife, Karen. He now has two grandchildren, and three step-grandchildren, the latest being a granddaughter.
