It only seems fitting that M.J. Feet, the University District's Birkenstock store, would focus on, well, feet. But the store's owner, Melanie Grimes, put it best: "We see people from all walks of life," she said - no pun intended.A SLOW STARTGrimes' love for Birkenstocks started at 19, when she bought a pair for a waitressing job in Vermont. "I ended up absolutely loving them," she said. "I slept in them." When Grimes moved to the West Coast in 1972 to study naturopathic medicine, her shoes received a warm welcome. At that point, there were no Birkenstock stores in the United States. "People started asking me about them and where to get them," she said. Grimes, short on cash, realized the potential to capitalize on the interest in the unusual shoes. She worked with the Birkenstock company, based in Germany, to open the first Birkenstock store in the United States, which doubled as her bedroom closet at the time. As interest grew, Grimes moved into the back of a health-foods store in Seattle. With a loan from her parents, 78 pairs of Birkenstocks and a letter from Margot Fraser, president and founder of Birkenstock USA, Grimes' new business was in full swing - sort of. "I had one customer a day, maybe," she said. "So I'd go down to Green Lake and float around on an inner tube, and if someone came to the store and wanted a pair of Birkenstocks, the employees would tell them to go down to the lake and yell, 'Melanie!'" BIRKENSTOCKS IN SEATTLEAs the pioneer city of Birkenstocks in the United States, Seattle has long been known for its Birkenstock-wearing hippies, which doesn't mean Seattleites don't embrace the trend. In fact, Birkenstocks have spread beyond the stereotype. "[Birkenstocks] have been here so long that they're a part of our culture," Grimes said. "People take them hiking and put them on after they take their hiking boots off. People take them kayaking, and they float when they fall out of the boat."Grimes said the stereotype doesn't reflect the variety of Birkenstock-wearers in the city. "My customer is anyone with two feet...or one," she said. "Everybody has feet, and everybody has to have comfortable footwear."Many M.J. Feet customers frequent the store on a regular basis, and others just stop to see what's inside the store with the curvy roof and quirky name. Regardless, they are all part of a family because of their shoes, Grimes said: "There's a lifestyle associated with Birkenstocks. Because of the commonality [of wearing Birkenstocks], there's a family aspect."Store manager Anna Heaton, who has been working at the store for seven years, agreed, "I see the same faces every week, which is unusual in a shoe store. You get to know people's stories and how they think about themselves through their feet," she said.GREEN COMFORTThe Birkenstock brand was established in 1774 and has remained in the Birkenstock family since. The company's emphasis on environmentally friendly manufacturing and function made it a comfortable fit for Seattleites and, eventually, the rest of the country. "There was no comfort-shoe industry," Grimes explained. "When Birkenstocks were first imported, we didn't even call them 'comfort shoes' because that didn't exist. It was a whole new world that opened up." Before Birkenstocks, shoes were about fashion, not function, Grimes said. "A shoe bigger than your foot was really ugly-looking, but a shoe should be bigger than your foot," she explained. Even Seattleites weren't immediately receptive of the oversize, functional shoes. "At first, it was definitely comfort," Grimes said. "People would be hesitant or bring a letter from their foot doctor even. More and more, it has become iconically fashionable." "When we first opened the store, people would come in and look at [the shoes] and go, 'What's that?'" said Charles Grimes, co-owner of the store and Melanie's husband. "It really was pioneering." The "green" aspect of Birkenstocks also attracted Seattleites. However, Birkenstock's focus on the environment isn't a reaction to recent trends. "Birkenstocks have always been green," Charles Grimes said. "It's always been a part of what we do." Another environmentally friendly aspect of Birkenstocks is the ability to repair the shoes when they wear out. "People tend to get a lot of miles," Charles Grimes said. "They tend to buy the shoes and wear them a lot.""I have mine in-soled, out-soled, bottom-soled," said Linda Kammerzell, who shops at M.J. Feet and has been wearing Birkenstocks for about 20 years. "They last forever." MOVING FORWARDWith more than a quarter of a million pairs of Birkenstocks sold since she opened M.J. Feet 35 years ago, Melanie Grimes has no concrete plans to leave the business or to make any drastic changes. Even the store's name - a reference to Melanie's first and middle initials - is around to stay. "People always say, 'It's so convenient that your last name is 'Feet' and you're in the shoe business,'" she said. And she never corrects them. "I didn't think the store would last, or I wouldn't have named it that," Grimes explained. "But that's a moot point because the name [M.J. Feet] has become the store. It would lose its identity if it changed its name."[[In-content Ad]]
