With You Every Step, Episode 003:

Mark Toms on Creating BrownsShoeFitCo.com

This month, hosts Adam Smith and Craig Jarrard sat down with Mark Toms, Head of eCommerce at Brown’s Shoe Fit Co., for a conversation that traces nearly two decades of the company’s journey online — from a single eBay listing to brownsshoefitco.com serving all 73 locally owned stores. Mark’s path through Brown’s is a story in its own right: store associate, founder of a brand-new location, head of personnel, and now the person steering the company’s national e-commerce strategy. Here’s a look at what he shared.

From Sneakerhead to Store Founder

Mark’s introduction to Brown’s started almost by accident. While attending Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, and juggling a full course load with a part-time job, a roommate working at a local Brown’s store mentioned they needed extra help. A self-described sneakerhead who “probably had 30 to 40 pairs” growing up, Mark took the job — and quickly found a career.

After graduation, he transferred to a store in Norman, Oklahoma, and shortly after, was sent to run the location in Kearney, Nebraska, with zero employees and before the modern Point of Sale Computers were in place. There were no reports to run to see any history of sales to work from. From there, his path took him to Watertown, Wisconsin, then Muskogee, Oklahoma, before a move to the company’s Shenandoah, Iowa headquarters to lead personnel and training. Eventually, he left the office to create a store from the ground up in Cedar Falls, Iowa- — an opportunity he still counts among his proudest accomplishments.

“That’s probably one of the things I’m most proud of, is I get to have ‘founder’ in front of my name. Founder of Cedar Falls. That is cool.”

— Mark Toms

The Early Days of E-Commerce at Brown’s

Long before brownsshoefitco.com existed, individual Brown’s stores were experimenting with selling online — first through eBay, and later through scrappy, store-built websites. Mark built his first version of brownsfootwear.com while running the Watertown store back in 2008, updating inventory by hand and learning the ropes with no automation in place.

Years later, while founding the Cedar Falls store, he built another version of that site for just $79 through Shopify, right as COVID hit. That hands-on experience — seeing firsthand what worked and what didn’t at the store level — became the foundation for the centralized e-commerce platform he now leads at the company level.

Getting there wasn’t simple. Mark and the team partnered with Lifted Logic, a Kansas City-based web development company, to bring brownsshoefitco.com to life, and connecting 73 individually owned stores to one central system came with plenty of challenges along the way — from inconsistent product data across shoe brands to simply learning that, in tech, timelines rarely go as planned.

“They’ve literally taken my brain and put it into a website. They’ve listened to every little thing and done it their way so that it comes out how I like it.”

— Mark Toms, on the team’s partnership with Lifted Logic

A Tool for Stores, Not a Competitor

One theme came up again and again throughout the conversation: brownsshoefitco.com exists to support Brown’s 73 locally owned stores, not to compete with them. Mark talked about the daily work of building trust with store owners — proving, store by store, that the website is a supplement to their business rather than a threat to it.

That philosophy shows up directly in the company’s Local Anywhere initiative, which highlights the community involvement happening at each individual store — sponsorships, charity partnerships, local events — so customers anywhere in the country can see exactly who they’re buying from.

“When’s the last time you went to a big box store, bought online, and actually knew who you were buying from? Brown Shoe Fit, you can click on our locations and go read more about us… We want to be local anywhere.”

— Mark Toms

Guest Experience, Online and In-Store

Mark and the hosts also dug into what good customer service looks like online. For Mark, it comes down to speed, organization, and a human touch — not automated pop-up chat boxes promising instant replies the team can’t always deliver. Brown’s e-commerce team handles customer questions by phone, text, and email, and owns mistakes when they happen rather than hiding from them.

“We’re so prideful on how we respond to people and how we want to be the best in customer service, not just say it, that we want to respond individually to each thing.”

— Mark Toms

What Success Looks Like

Looking ahead, Mark’s goals go beyond a single dollar figure. He wants Brown Shoe Fit to be recognized nationally as a company that sells shoes with genuine care — the kind of place customers in all 50 states feel comfortable buying from because they know the people behind it. He and the hosts also touched on the company’s broader culture: an ownership model built on proving yourself first, growing people before growing the business, and a willingness to take the long view on both store openings and the e-commerce platform itself.

“We grow people first, and then we grow our business, and we don’t reverse that.”

— Craig Jarrard

Thinking About a Career With Brown’s?

Mark’s advice for anyone considering a future with Brown Shoe Fit Co. was simple: just start. The company’s national apprenticeship program is built to teach the business from the ground up, and its ownership model gives store managers the chance to buy into their own location — and eventually invest in others — as they grow with the company.

Ready to learn more or start your own journey? Visit brownsshoefitco.com/careers to explore opportunities, or find your nearest Brown’s Shoe Fit location to see what e-commerce and in-store service look like working together.

Catch the full conversation with Mark Toms on the With You Every Step podcast, hosted by Adam Smith and Craig Jarrard. #WithYouEveryStep