Pedestrian Shops in the News Archives

Our solar project was featured on Denver's 9News on April 8th. The article written for 9news.com in conjunction with the story follows:

Harnessing the energy of the sun to hold onto some cash

BOULDER - One local shoe store is borrowing rooftop space as a step in helping the environment.

Pedestrian Shops is located on Pearl Street in Boulder. The rooftop it's borrowing is a couple of blocks away, in a sunnier location.

Richard Polk is the owner of the store and says because his business doesn't have enough roof space or sunshine, Polk found a "host" building a few blocks away to set up a 10 kilowatt solar panel system.

The residents are paying Polk to solar power his building and he says it offsets his business's electric bill.

"There are a lot of good reasons to use energy cautiously and put back whenever you can. The state, federal government and Xcel Energy end up paying for about half the system, as much as 60 percent in some instances," Polk said.

The solar panels will produce about 14,000 kilowatts of solar electricity every year. That's preventing about 28,000 pounds of carbon emissions from rising into the atmosphere.

For the next 20 years, the solar electricity will cost 15 percent less than Xcel Energy's prevailing rates.

Polk says he's invested about $70,000. With government rebates, renewable energy credit payments and investment tax credits, the business expects to make half the amount back in four or five years.

"These are the things that result in change of temperature. Certainly pollution and a variety of other things," Polk said.

Typically you need a lot of up-front capital to finance installation of a solar electric system.

Under a solar power purchase agreement, or PPA, the capital requirement for building owners who have sunny roof spaces are removed.

Harnessing the energy of the sun is Polk's effort to make sure the only footprints he leaves behind are the ones made by the shoes he sells.

(Copyright KUSA*TV. All rights reserved.)

You can view the video featuring 9News' interview with Richard Polk at: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=89606

Pedestrian Shops Continues Earth Day Shoe Recycling Tradition -- Solar Energy now part of the long-time green shoe retailer's story

Pedestrian is known for its selection of the world's most comfortable brands of shoes and its commitment to defining its success (Green business practices) in social and environmental as well as economic terms.

Boulder, CO April 9, 2008 -- The Pedestrian Shops is celebrating its B' Earth day again this year with a shoe drive to benefit people in need. Pedestrian, Boulder's comfortable shoe stores were selling shoes 38 years ago, on the original Earth Day in the spring of 1970.

New or slightly used footwear is being collected at the Pedestrian Shops locations, at 1425 Pearl on Boulder's Downtown Mall and south of McGuckin Hardware in The Village, from Friday, April 18, through Monday, May 5. Customers who bring in a pair of shoes qualify for a 10 percent discount on any purchase, including footwear already sale priced.

"A purchase isn't necessary. We're just really happy to get good used shoes from people who want to help someone in need," said Lauren Polk, general manager of the Pedestrian Shops.

This is the Pedestrian Shops' (comfortableshoes.com) 40th shoe drive. It has been conducting annual Thanksgiving and Earth Day shoe drives for 20 years. More than 30,000 pairs of reusable shoes have been collected by the Pedestrian for distribution by the First Presbyterian Church Deacon's Closet and other community partners.

Pedestrian is known for its selection of the world's most comfortable brands of shoes and its commitment to defining success in social and environmental as well as economic terms. Green business practices are especially important to Pedestrian. Apart from shoe sales, Pedestrian considers its greatest success to be the recent activation of its 10.32-kilowatt solar power plant, which produces carbon-free energy equal to nearly 50 percent of the energy necessary to power its headquarters location on Boulder's downtown mall. The plant will prevent 28,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the Earth's atmosphere each year. More examples of the Pedestrian Shops' social and environmental programs can be found and commented on at comfortableshoes.com/blog .

"We believe we're the world's first solar-powered shoe store and we know we sell the world's most comfortable brands of shoes," said Richard Polk, president of Pedestrian Corporation. "I'm really excited by the notion that we now can sell shoes without leaving a carbon footprint."

The Pedestrian Shops encourages its customers to enjoy life and take a walk.

"Richard Polk has seen shoe trends come and go.
He's even seen some come, go, then come back again.

Polk, who began selling Earth shoes at the Pedestrian Shops in Boulder in 1969, today has a 750-square-foot room in his Pearl Street store set aside just for Crocs.

"These shoes are sexy and whimsical," Polk says of the brightly colored resin-based shoes that took the 2005 title of Ugly Shoe of the Year at footwear blog Shoewawa.com.

Crocs, whose shares will be sold on the Nasdaq today, are the relative newcomers to his 35-year-old business.

His two shops boast about 50 brand names, including Birkenstock and the new Earth shoes. Forget Jimmys and Manolos, though - these shoes are built for comfort first, with style often an afterthought.

Earth shoes, meant to be strictly utilitarian in their first incarnation in the late '60s and early '70s, disappeared from the scene for about 25 years before coming back earlier this decade.

The shoes feature "negative heel" technology. Simply put, the shoes are higher in the toe and lower in the heel, which is supposed to both make the wearer stand more naturally and burn more calories when walking.

With new styles, the shoes have made news of late because some celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow have taken to wearing them.

Birkenstock, a perennial favorite since the 1970s, has also added new models to the original two-strap Arizona sandal that many think of when they hear the name.

The shoes' technology dates back to an 18th century German inventor, and U.S. sales of the shoes began spiking in the 1970s after a California entrepreneur brought them back from Germany to distribute here.

Some shoe sellers say Crocs may be a factor but that there are other forces, especially better overall shoe technology, driving a demand for more comfortable footwear.

At Saxon Shoes in Richmond, Va., Gary Weiner sells Crocs and Birkenstock next to Cole Haan and Calvin Klein. Weiner also is vice president of footwear brands for Greenwood Village-based eBags, which runs online shoe retailer 6pm.com.

Comfortable shoes have often attracted a different crowd than the "fashionable at any cost" contingent, Weiner said.

"I think that person is probably wearing jeans a little bit more, maybe doesn't dress up as often, but they're comfortable in their own skin," he said. "A lot of these comfort shoes are not what some people would consider pretty, but we say if it feels good, it looks good."

Attitudes seem to be changing, though, said Weiner, one of the earlier East Coast retailers to stock Crocs.

"There are some people who will buy $300 shoes and $30 Crocs in the same visit," he said.

Shoemakers are starting to address a growing demand for both comfort and style, he said. The result - more fashionable Birkenstocks and Eccos alongside increasingly comfortable high-fashion styles.

"I think the demand for comfort is going to continue to grow and grow - not that there won't be fashion shoes, but even the fashion shoes will have comfort features," he said.

What they're saying

So what's the buzz on the Internet about Crocs' planned initial public offering? As the Niwot-based shoemaker gears up for its first day of share trading today, the financial media sounded off on whether Crocs will find a good fit in the market.

• Market Watch on Monday noted that Crocs is gearing up to be "the biggest footwear IPO in U.S. history, ranking ahead of Nine West's $140 million offering in 1993," citing Thomson Financial. "Selling a product that appeals to outdoor enthusiasts" puts the footwear maker in the company of Zumiez, Volcom and Under Armour - three of last year's more successful IPOs.

• Investors Business Daily also likened Crocs' IPO to that of Under Armour - whose share offering "gave Wall Street a minor attack of hysteria," the paper said.

"Crocs no doubt hopes the Street will see parallels," the Tuesday article said. "And while the product line only launched in 2002, if you hang out with young folks these days you'll likely see Crocs' distinctive shoes on somebody's feet." Still, Investors Business Daily also cautioned that Crocs has only a few years of operating history under its belt, which "might be a reason it failed to sign on the top investment banks as underwriters."

• Forbes.com was a bit less sanguine, saying Crocs has a limited operating history and its "management team is new, unproven and managing growth can be difficult." While noting that the company has done well so far, writer Scott Reeves observed that "it's bound to flub sometime in the future. Volatility is almost routine in an IPO, but a major mistake could hammer Crocs.""

Read the entire article, Many shoe buyers find comfort soothes the sole more than style, written by Janet Forgrieve for the Rocky Mountain News at (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_4449296,00.html)