Garrett Breton, 45, is a ‘big picture’ independent shoe executive who knows more than a thing or two about the industry. With over thirty years of experience, he has served as the president and owner of Comfort One Shoes for the past five years. He started working in the business with his dad, Maurice, in 1994 as a 14-year-old stock boy in a single 850-sq.-ft. store.

Breton oversees and strategizes for a retail portfolio of 20-plus stores that includes not only Comfort One’s stores, based in VA, MD, and DC, but also Richmond, VA-based Saxon Shoes, acquired in late 2023, and Happy Feet Plus, a nine-location chain based in So. Florida, whose acquisition was finalized on January 31. While 71-year-old Saxon is a large, 22,000 sq. ft. family footwear store; Happy Feet Plus is a chain with nine smaller doors that average 2,800 sq. ft. and cater to an older audience, tourists, and seasonal residents with a sharp focus on the orthopedic side. There are plans to make the Happy Feet Plus chain more focused on comfort footwear.

“Happy Feet Plus reached out to us, and from the beginning, they were organized, professional, and clear about their expectations. They knew what they wanted and had reasonable expectations for the valuation, which made for a very fast and smooth sales process,” recalls Breton.

“What attracted us most to the chain were several factors: the quality of their locations, the current mix of footwear (both what was selling and what was missing), and their strong sales team and support staff. Most importantly, there was a clear alignment in culture and core values. Their team was already trained to analyze feet and deliver a very high level of service, which fits seamlessly with our own 10-step selling process. Even more compelling was the culture they had built. Culture is the hardest thing to change, and theirs was already aligned with ours: they celebrated helping customers live more comfortable and healthy lives, they worked as a tight-knit team that consistently supported each other, and they showed resilience in adapting to customers’ needs.

That combination made it clear to us that Happy Feet Plus wasn’t just a good business fit — it was a cultural fit as well.”

Comfort One, whose Washington, D.C. area stores are about 2,300-sq.-ft. in size, also operates two Birkenstock doors where more than half the SKU total and 50 percent of sales are from the German brand.

All buying is centralized with a main warehouse in Manassas; VA. Additionally, Happy Feet currently has its own warehouse in Florida. If there is to be additional store growth, most likely through acquisition, it will likely be focused on the Southeast U.S. where local governments are friendly to retailers in terms of taxes and regulations.

The expanding Comfort One business has maintained its concentration on growth, core values, and a family-focused management style via a leadership team of eight using EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). Breton’s business partner and 28-year company veteran Shawn O’Neill spearheads day-to-day operations for a team of approximately 150 employees across all three banners.

Breton’s ascension to Comfort One ownership began with a journey through the ranks, starting as a sales associate, a decade-long transfer of ownership deal, and a startling beginning in early 2020 when the Covid pandemic struck. Stores had to be closed for two to six months, 95 percent of staff had to be jettisoned for a time, and a limited cash flow from the online segment had to be managed. It would take a year and a half for sales to rebound and reach the 2019 sales level again.

The ordeal taught Breton a valuable lesson.

“Tough times made the team stronger,” he reminisces. “It (Covid) brought everyone together. When the chips are down, you really know how people react and who you can count on…and we counted on each other. That sort of thing we can do, a resilient attitude permeates through this company.”

A New Generation of Independent Retailers

When he broadens out his perspective on the entire independent retail shoe industry today, Breton addresses the trend of key regional retail chains like Comfort One and Beck’s Shoes on the West Coast getting stronger and bigger, and an emerging trend of collaboration between retailers that perhaps wasn’t as typical in the past.

“There is a shift in the younger generation where we are a little more collaborative than the last generation,” he says. “We grew up with the internet… If Beck’s sells another pair of shoes in California, it’s not going to hurt my online business. It’s the 99 percent of the shoes that are sold on Zappos, Amazon, and standard websites, that’s our real competition.”

Breton notes that the newer generation of independent retailers tend to be “a little more collaborative and open to sharing.” He says, “We’re all facing the same challenges, so sharing just makes us as a group stronger and faster. This is opposed to trying to be secretive and figure everything out on your own, which is a little bit harder path. There was a little bit of scarcity mentality, where if something’s good for someone else, it’s bad for me. I think that thinking has lessened as we’ve become more collaborative. It’s like, ‘Hey, you’ve got a good idea. I’ve got a good idea.’”

Handling Economic Uncertainty

Comfort One, like most, if not all, of its competitors, has faced economic impacts on its business that have included higher prices due to tariffs. But through late August, sales were up 30 percent despite largely higher prices on key athletic styles. The men’s business, currently picking up momentum, is a key indicator of any economic shift, as men are often the first group to stop spending when the economy slows. People’s growing desire to dress up for a concert, a festival, or a trip has fueled a resurgence in dressier styles. The trend is happening slowly, giving Comfort One more time to test looks and expand on opportunities when they emerge.

The tariff factor has not impacted the company’s attention on high-touch service and product introductions. All three banners offer private label and direct-to-consumer segments, with the three sharing a unified website and integrated online and in-store sales channels.

“The biggest problem over the last year has been uncertainty,” Breton reminds. “There’s been so much change so quickly, like whiplash in one direction or another. We sat down and tried to plan everything out to account for the tariffs, and then in a week, it was all worthless work.”

“I don’t want to be an ostrich, right? But there’s stuff I can control, and there are some things that I just have no control over. So, we just double down on stuff we can control and effect change on, and keep moving,” he adds.

For Comfort One, that work includes everything from always being nice to customers to introducing new products to them that they might not be aware of yet. Even with its larger portfolio of stores, Comfort One’s objective to flood its stores with exciting experiences remains, ones that keep customers returning for the nostalgic feel of a family shoe store.