Arcadia’s Bawek’s Shoe Store to close after 50 years

“I feel sad that I’m leaving Arcadia without a shoe store,” owner Craig Bawek said in March.

While the business is thriving, with customers coming as far away as Chippewa Falls and Winona, Craig is looking to start a new chapter of his life.

Craig has sold shoes since he was in third grade at his father’s shoe store in Stacyville, Iowa.

The family moved to Arcadia in 1974, when they purchased Abts Shoe Store. Craig said his father, Glen Bawek, wanted a bigger shoe store that would provide a larger income to support his large family.

Glen had looked at multiple options but landed on the Arcadia store because Ashley Furniture also was starting up in the community at the time, Craig said.

Since the move, the business has helped countless customers find the perfect fit of shoe, along with arches that help them with foot problems. 

Craig, whose life goal since childhood was to sell shoes with his father, went into a partnership with Glen in 1984 when he was 22 years old.

Just like his father, Craig had his children help in the store, too.

“It was a great experience,” Cole Bawek, Craig’s oldest child, said. “Pretty much every day after school since I was 8 years old until I graduated high school, I went right from school to the shoe store and worked until close and then we would go home.”

Cole and his two siblings started working in the store by stocking shelves and dusting. Eventually, they moved on to helping customers.

Cole believes the experiences the siblings had at the store and the lessons they learned helped them become well-rounded adults and well-versed in business.

They later were able to take their knowledge to get full-time jobs and find success in life, Cole said. Now, Cole still occasionally helps at the store and brings his own children there regularly.

“I certainly love bringing my kids there,” Cole said.

He enjoys watching his children help Craig, just like he did as a child.

“They love working with grandpa,” Cole said.

Ever since he started selling shoes full time, Craig’s worked six days a week and has only taken off about seven or eight weeks in total throughout his entire career.

“I’ve never done anything else, so this is what I am,” Craig said. “But I didn’t want to be just this, I want to be something else, too.”

Now, he’s going to start looking for that something else. While he doesn’t have any specific plans, Craig plans to start exploring hobbies like traveling, golfing and fishing.

Craig spent a year trying to sell Bawek’s Shoes as a business but was unable to find a buyer. Now he’s focused on selling the building.

Craig is working to shrink his inventory with a retirement sale. The store will close by June 28 at the latest, with the store possibly closing by the end of May.

Cole said the upcoming closure has been a rollercoaster of emotions for him.

“The store has been a legacy in my eyes and I think a legacy in the community,” Cole said. “It spanned multiple generations, and it certainly left an indelible mark on the community. It’s one of the strong, kind of founding businesses that are in Arcadia, and to see it go, I think it’s going to certainly kind of leave a hole, especially in the downtown community.”

Cole’s happy for his parents, though, as they will be able to enjoy retirement and more time with their children and grandchildren.

“It’s a very, very well-deserved retirement for my dad,” Cole said.