Melanie Grimes, a flourishing businesswoman, founded Birkenstock’s first retail store in the United States, M.J. Feet -The Birkenstock Store, in 1973. Beginning her career as Washington’s “shoe lady,” Grimes has been in the comfort shoe industry for 35 years and counting.
At the age of 19, Grimes first discovered the comfort of Birkenstock shoes while waiting tables at a health food restaurant. Tired, sore feet drove her to spend a week’s wages on a pair of mustard-colored Zurichs. Other students became interested in the shoes, and soon after Grimes began ordering the shoes wholesale and selling them out of her closet while studying Naturopathic medicine in Washington.
In 1973, with a $2,000 loan from her parents, Grimes set up shop in the back of a health food store in Greenlake, Washington. Following her father’s advice, 23-year-old Grimes negotiated a guarantee with distributor Margot Fraser (president and founder of Birkenstock Footprint Sandals, Inc.) that if the shoes did not sell they would be bought back. With this insurance she bought 78 pairs of shoes, took out a quarter page newspaper ad and bided her time. Sitting on an inner tube in a nearby lake, Grimes’ customers would call to her from the shore when service was needed. Business steadily increased and in the following years she received her Bachelor’s degree, met her husband and moved her Birkenstock business to a store in Seattle’s University District.
Grimes’ first store was named with the help of her friends. Likening Grimes’ driving style to that of racecar driver A.J. Foyt, friends suggested M.J. Feet. Building on the initials, Grimes adopted “mercy” and “justice” (two of her business principles) to represent the store’s abbreviation. Over the years, M.J. Feet’s success has multiplied to include two other Birkenstock stores; one in Pike Place Market and the other in Bellevue Square. Though the business has grown, the University District location still has its distinctly arched, curvilinear interior. After 35 years in business, Grimes welcomes three generations of customers to her stores.
The store and Birkenstock shoes have become interwoven with Melanie Grimes’ personal life history. Her husband Charles Grimes, wedded in a pair of sand suede Arizonas, runs the business alongside his wife. The Grimes’ two sons, now 12 and 17, also help out in the retail stores after having spent most of their younger lives toddling around Birkenstock shoes.
Involved in several activities, the Grimes have become a part of the community. Charles sat on the Queen Anne Little League Board and was president of the University District Chamber of Commerce. Certified as a homeopathic practitioner, Melanie has lectured both nationally and abroad, written, edited and published several homeopathic books and journals and established Alethea Book Company (publishing books on homeopathy and related fields) and is writing a novel.
