A new shoe shop will be opening in the village centre, taking over the premises previously occupied by Jeeves dry cleaners which closed in February 2013.
Meeks Shoes is a family firm that was established 113 years ago by Edward Meeks in Ashton-under-Lyne.
The company is now run by the fourth generation of the family, John Meeks and his sister Sally, and today they have stores in Ashton, Oldham, Sale and Stockport.
Their four shops specialise in comfort shoes and wider fitting shoes from a variety of well known brands, such as Clarks Shoes, Hotter, Rieker, FitFlops,Gabor and Ecco UK. However, they have slightly different plans for their fifth shop in Alderley Edge.
John Meeks explained "The new one is a slight change of direction for our company because we are going to stock several new brands that would not be suited to our current shops. The main brand in the shop will be Ecco, that we already stock, but we are going to be stocking a new ladies brand called Paul Green and one or two other brands which we have not secured yet.
"On the men's shoes we are stocking new brands Loake, Church, Barker and Cheaney. These are very fashionable high end brands that are doing very well in the market place.
"All the brands will be new to the area and will hopefully give customers in Alderley Edge a local store that they can use instead of having to travel to other towns."
Meeks plan to open at 43, London Road, in time for Easter.
John added "We started looking for a new store last year and it was only by chance that the one in Alderley Edge was available. We viewed the property and it had a good feel to it so we went for it, and secured it at Christmas."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Sounds like they intend to stock very expensive brands because they think like a lot of others that have been before that the folk of AE have mega bucks to spend on everything including shoes. Perhaps 80% of people just want good quality shoes at a good price.
I could of course be wrong. :)
You see, the thing is... people who open in Alderley think that they have a their target market right there on their footstep while, truly, they don't. They don't because, as Sarah rightly says, not everyone can spend £500 on a pair of shoes, and those who can (this is crucial) do not do so in Alderley. I am one of those people who shops for these sort of items in Harrods because I like to choose amongst 50 Burberry coats and not 3. This feels vital when you're spending £1500 in a coat (or £500 on shoes or... fill in the blank...).
I can remember an expensive children's clothing shop a number of years ago. The prices were silly and maybe they did get the odd parent buying a few things but it was clearly not selling enough on a day to day basis to keep the shop open. Another case of presuming parents would be in a queue to spend silly money because they lived in AE. Most parents want good quality at a good price.
School shoes at a good price would be great. But not some top end line at a starting price of £90 because it's AE.
Good luck with the shop anyway but 'tread' carefully with your stock. ;)
And that's a shame. But this type of shop can no longer open on the modern high st. Rent and rates and parking problems just don't allow them to survive.
In this case, a handful of footballers won't buy enough of their expensive shoes...
Additionally, the parades, games, events and whatnot that they put up constantly support everyone up and down their street merely by dragging more people to their bit of road in Knightsbridge. The Cafe Rouge behind Harrods has much to be grateful for, as does Zara on the corner, Starbs opposite and so on and so forth. They provide as much for the locals as any May Fair provides for AE, just on the bigger scale because they can afford it. But this idea that a large retailer does not care or does not offer decent service is old-fashioned and a bit provincial; whoever is huge today started small and it is because they've given their customers what they wanted (50 coats? 50 varieties of tea in this instance?) that they have become huge.
All the best to Meeks and looking forward to visit!
I think they might know a bit about selling shoes, and I think they might know a bit about what will sell and at what prices.
Good luck to them, I hope they get a fair wind and make a success of their venture.
Hence I agree, let's all buy our shoes in AE 'cos the new shop is definitely gonna need it now they have decided to stock goods in a very different price range from their usual one.
Give the shop a chance
At least it's not another drinking and eating venue.
I wish it was because we need a larger selection of bars and restaurants in the village