Content area
Full Text
Alan Cohen clearly remembers his first love affair with a sneaker.
"I thought the neatest thing that I had ever seen was my first pair of all-leather basketball shoes, the Superstars from Adidas," said Cohen of his 1973 purchase. "Up until that time, I had been playing basketball in a pair of canvas Converse. The Superstar was really quite an innovation and made an impression on me."
Today, the Finish Line co-founder, chairman and CEO is just as passionate about athletic footwear. What began as a side business to his nascent career as a lawyer has grown into one of the country's largest athletic specialty retail chains, with more than $1.3 billion in annual sales. Present in 47 states, the chain next year will surpass the 700-door mark.
While the company has had its share of highs and lows over the years - including recent pressure from Wall Street (see sidebar, page 18) - Cohen remains committed to the retail philosophy the company set forth 30 years ago. "Our m.o. hasn't changed all that much," he told Footwear News. "We want to be the best athletic specialty store in the country. We want to have the best product and to create value for our customers so that they feel that when they come into the Finish Line, they are going to get a great product at a very fair price with the best service."
While the goal has stayed the same, said Cohen, the ways of doing business have not. Today, the company is adapting its stores to cater to specific consumer groups while at the same time broadening its reach. In January 2005, Finish Line acquired the urban retail chain Man Alive, and earlier this year, it debuted Paiva, an upmarket women's-specific concept.
"It's not one-size-fits-all," Cohen said of today's retail environment. "You really have to fine-tune the merchandise if you are going to maximize the productivity of your store to truly satisfy your customers' needs."
Here, Finish Line's top exec sounds off on the evolution of athletic retail, the importance of being different and why he wouldn't trade his job for any other.
FN: How would you compare the retail landscape today to when you first started?
AC: We are seeing the...