It was easy for me to think it was about the shoes. Whenever I needed a new pair, I’d stop at the little shop on East Third Avenue. I’d wander the store, looking at clothing, notices of athletic events, the water bowl outside for pets, the rack for my bike. I always left feeling happy.
Then on Tuesday I got a newsletter from the owner saying the little shoe shop was going out of business.
I felt abandoned.
“It’s bittersweet for me, too,” said Lisa Voorhees, owner of The Sporting Woman, “but it’s time.” She plans to lock the door on 15 years in business in August.
Through all these years, though we’d never met, Voorhees knew me well. Her database kept track of my favorite hiking boots and which shoes kept me running through back injuries and sore knees.
In return, her newsletter offered me insights into the woman who succeeded brilliantly without selling her soul in a business dominated by discount retailers.
“Service always was the most important part of the culture here,” she said. “Most of the businesses in Cherry Creek North were owned by women, and there was a real sense of community. We tried to do whatever we could to foster relationships with each other and our customers.”
But that culture is endangered.
The Sporting Woman will join three other woman-owned, independent businesses that have shuttered in Cherry Creek North since May.
Cook’s Mart, a locally owned kitchenware shop, closed after 25 years. B.Bear Express, a children’s clothing store, and The Sporting Woman are closing this summer. And the Tattered Cover Book Store – the heart of the business district for 34 years – moved to East Colfax Avenue last month.
“Things are changing,” said Voorhees. “I think we all share the same experience when we walk around the neighborhood now. We are watching the life being sucked right out of it.”
Sky-high rents, increased parking costs and an influx of chain retailers have put the squeeze on the scrappy, eclectic businesses that have been the draw for the district since the 1970s.
The opening of Crate & Barrel in the Clayton Lane development spelled doom for Cook’s Mart. For The Sporting Woman, it was the arrival of three chain competitors: Title 9, Lucy and lululemon athletica.
“For a while I wondered if the business district actually was recruiting these businesses to drive the independents out,” Voorhees said. But Christina Brickley, marketing director for the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District, insists it isn’t.
“Being 80 percent independently owned businesses is what makes us different. The mission of the district is to maintain the independently owned culture,” she said. “We don’t want to become a sea of big-box stores.”
Ultimately, the character of the neighborhood is in the hands of the property owners, though, not the gutsy women who created the innovative business models and stuck it out through an oil bust and the disruptive mall construction to make Cherry Creek North the thriving business district it is today.
There is some satisfaction in seeing their concepts copied by the big guys.
“The Sporting Woman was one of the first to specialize in athletic clothes and shoes designed specifically for women,” Voorhees said. “In the beginning that was so unusual, people thought I was nuts.
“Now there are many more products and companies selling to women. I know we had a huge impact on the industry. I feel really proud of that.”
But it’s time for a change.
Voorhees said she’s getting back into photography, dabbling in writing, opening her mind to the possibilities.
Sure, when she locks up the little store for the final time and rides away on her scooter, she’ll indulge in a bit of melancholy. And then she’ll focus on the new relationships, new challenges.
Because, she said, it’s really not about the shoes.
It never was.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
