In the nearly 50 years since Schottenstein, 69, started working with his father at their furniture chain, he has expanded and modernizedHe took his lead from prior generations: His great-grandfather bought goods and sold them out of wagon, his grandfather then started a store in the early 1900s and his father’s generation developed that into department stores, a furniture company and a real estate concern. -parent Designer Brands Inc. — both public companies.
In Columbus, Ohio, the company had four furniture stores under two different banners. The stores competed with each other for customers, but were more or less the same. “I wasn’t even in town,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I didn’t know that was my job.’ My father gave me two words of advice. He said, ‘There’s two things that drive the business, the buying and the marketing.’ Really it changed my life because at that moment I took over the marketing of the furniture operation.
“It used to be a person could go set up a business, set up a store, it could last a long time,” Schottenstein said. “The systems didn’t change that much, right? And there are other areas, like RFID technology or government regulations, where the various businesses can compare notes and work together.
“They make great running shoes,” Schottenstein said. “He’s really developed a great product. You wear his shoes…they’re the most comfortable running shoes. It’s more comfortable than Hoka. It’s the most comfortable. I’ve tried ’em all on. It’s the most comfortable shoe there is.”