Why Berk’s shoe store plans to close after 50 years on Thayer Street
PROVIDENCE – Berk’s shoe store, a Thayer Street staple for fifty years, plans to close at the end of January.
“We are writing to inform you with a heavy heart that Berk’s Stores Inc. will be closing its doors on 1/25/25,” said a notice posted to social media and on the store’s front door on Thursday. “We want to express our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for your support, loyalty, and patronage over the years.”
“It’s just time to retire,” Stephen Berk, who runs the shoe store with his daughter, Lauren, told The Providence Journal on Friday. “I’ve had enough.”
Running a shoe store in the age of online shopping was already challenging, Berk said, and the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the Washington Bridge didn’t help. Neither did the seemingly constant construction on Thayer Street.
“We’ve seen a lot of foot traffic go down,” he said.
Berk’s long history in Rhode Island predates Thayer Street
Berk’s has a 125-year history, Berk said. His grandfather started out as a cobbler in Pascoag in the early 1900s. Over the years, the family business evolved into a store selling clothing and shoes.
Berk opened the Thayer Street location in 1974, after graduating from the University of Vermont. Before that, he’d attended the Moses Brown School, and recalls looking at the retail strip and thinking, “This place could use a shoe store.”
Originally, the store specialized in selling Frye boots, Berk said. In the 90s, giant platforms and Doc Martens became its main stock in trade. These days, it carries a wide selection of Blundstones, Birkenstocks, and Vans.
Students at Brown University have always been in the main customer base, Berk said, but the styles that they seek out have changed.
“In the 80s and 90s, they all liked to dress up,” Berk said. “Now, it’s all sneakers and casual wear, that’s all they want. We adapted, but it’s been different … We used to sell all kinds of heels and stuff, no more.”
That willingness to adapt and change made Berk’s one of the few constants in Thayer Street’s ever-changing landscape, an especially notable feat for an independent, family-owned business. Only a few other stalwarts, such as Avon Cinema and the Brown Bookstore, have been around longer.
Celebrity sightings abounded
Berk can rattle off a long list of celebrities who visited the store over the years, from touring musicians to Brown University students’ famous parents.
“Parents’ weekend, we’d all be on the lookout,” he said.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her sister, Lee Radziwill, stopped in when John F. Kennedy, Jr. was a student at Brown, he recalls. So did Stephen Spielberg, Sigourney Weaver, Bruce Willis, and Cher.
Amy Carter, the daughter of President Jimmy Carter, shopped at Berk’s, he said. So did “Harry Potter” actress Emma Watson, and the daughters of singer Diana Ross.
He can’t recall what they bought – but he does remember that Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong came in and bought a pair of platforms when he came to Providence for a concert.
Another time, Berk said, he was working at the store when someone came in and told him that Michael Jackson was outside on Thayer Street. He rushed out and shook Jackson’s hand.
‘A little nostalgic,’ but ready to retire
Berk plans to spend more time fishing once he’s retired, he said. His daughter, Lauren, who’s in charge of managing the books and ordering merchandise, will take a few months off before looking for another job.
How does he feel about his family’s 125-year legacy coming to an end?
“Great,” he said, laughing.
“It’s a lot of pressure every day, getting up and trying to pay the bills,” he explained. “I’m done with that. You get a little sad, a little nostalgic, but it’s a good thing. We’re all happy.”
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