We were lucky to catch up with Alice McIntosh recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alice, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

In 1976 there was only one place to buy dance supplies in Pasadena! There were two in Los Angeles!

My daughter who was 16 wore a pair of pointe shoes a day because her foot was so flexible and there weren’t many to choose from at that time. My parents paid for them because I couldn’t afford more than one pair a month and she wouldn’t have been able to continue her ballet classes on pointe. We had a standing order for 5 pair per week at our local dance store!

I also had taught tap classes in Pasadena for around ten years and had sent everyone of my students to this dance store and the owner knew this and me. I also took ballet class so we bought a lot at his store which was a men’s shoe store with dance attire on the side in a small space.

On a Monday my daughter and I went in to pick up our standing order and I also needed a new leotard and asked about one that was hanging on the wall. I asked what colors it came in? The owner said “take it or leave it lady!” He started writing it up on the invoice. I told him that I didn’t wear that size and didn’t want black and he told me that he was tired of people coming in and bothering him with questions like mine. I told him that I didn’t want anything from him and that I was never coming into his store again. We left!

My daughter was upset because she had class at 6pm and had no shoes. We drove to Hollywood and when we arrived we picked out everything we needed off the shelves including her pointe shoes. We stood at the counter trying to pay for at least 15 minutes and finally one of the clerks came by and I asked him if we could please pay for our items. He said “Mary Tyler Moore is here!” I asked him if she needed three people to help her and that it would only take a few minutes to write me up? He said “yes, it does!” and walked away!

We left and went to the Capezio store where we got everything we needed and drove home.

Within three days I had bought a building in Old Town Pasadena which cost $17,000. at the time and ordered dancewear from three companies in New York. I only had enough money saved for the down payment and a woman I knew gave me a loan to open The Red Shoes.

My husband and four of our friends changed an old barber shop into a retail store with a dressing room and store room. They were amazing and I will never forget what they did for me.

I had to get a license and choose a fictitious name for the store! It wasn’t hard to do because since I was very young I had loved the movie THE RED SHOES more than any other movie and still do and thought it would be a perfect name for a dance store. It has served me well!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I told you on the previous page about how I got into this business.

We sell everything for the dancer! Ballet shoes, Pointe shoes, Jazz shoes, Tap shooes, Character shoes, Dance sneakers, Leotards, Tights, Skirts, Unitards, Leg warmers, dance accessories, barrettes and custom orders, These all come in Women, Men and Children’s sizes.

We are also known as experts at pointe shoe fittings! Students come from all over Southern California for a fitting here because it’s hard to do and takes quite a bit of time. If they aren’t fit properly they can cause injurys to the foot, ankle, knee and back.

The Red Shoes has been here in South Pasadena for 36 years and before in Old Town Pasadena for 11. There were always five to six people working here every day until about ten years ago when Amazon and Discount Dance started selling on line with free shipping. When Covid changed the world we almost had to close but one of our dance vendors made masks and our customers sent our link to all their friends and family which kept us in business.

Now there are only two people working here and most days I work alone! I don’t really know what will happen but I have promised the store to a very loyal 33 year old woman who has worked here since she was a teen. I’m hoping that people will come back to shopping in stores before all retail is a thing of the past.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

We only depend on “word of mouth!” We are on Facebook and Instagram but I really don’t know how much that helps our business.

We always sent flyers until everyone did everything on line!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We are always nice to everyone no matter what and I think it makes a big difference! We go out of our way to find items needed by our customer!. We stay open late if a customer can’t get here before five! We even deliver when someone is having trouble getting here during our hours!

Contact Info:

• Website: Theredshoes.com
• Instagram: @redshoesdancewear
• Facebook: the red shoes