By DON SHILLING

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
SHARON, Pa. -- Pretty soon, shoppers won't recognize Reyers.
The brothers who operate the downtown Sharon shoe store are about to spend $250,000 to renovate every department in the showroom.
"We're starting over. We're starting with a blank slate," said Mark Jubelirer, who runs the company with his brother, Steven.
For good measure, they are throwing in new print and television advertising, logo and marketing slogan.
The advertising and logo are more refined. New television commercials, for example, focus on the products and store's wide selection and not on the brothers or their retired father, Harry Jubelirer, performing crazy antics.
Also, you won't be hearing much about "The World's Largest Shoe Store" any more, even though the brothers insist that's what they still have.
That slogan, in place since 1986, is being replaced by "For everybody. For everyday."
In the end, all of the changes are designed to update the image of the 119-year-old company, while maintaining its identity as a destination store.
On the cutting edge
Mark Jubelirer, company president, said Reyers always has tried to be cutting-edge in fashion and technology. The brothers order the latest styles of shoes and even come up with their own designs. They also invest in the latest point-of-sale software for their computers, and a new system is planned for the end of 2006.
"Now it's time to make the store new and exciting, more lush and plush," Mark Jubelirer said.
Part of what has become outdated is the layout of the store, he said. It's a bit difficult to navigate now, but the new design will make it easier for customers to find what they want, he said.
Steven Jubelirer, company vice president, showed how display cases need updated. The bottom racks on the display cases are too low for shoppers to reach with ease, he said.
Also included will be new carpeting and furniture. New lighting and colors are designed to give the store a brighter appearance.
The design work was done by New Era Store Design, a North Carolina company that has designed 1,400 shoe stores.
Construction starts Jan. 2 and should be completed by mid-February.
Staying the same
One thing that's not changing is the store's large inventory of shoes behind the sales floor. The leased location has 36,000 square feet, with 10,600 square feet for the showroom. The rest of the store contains rack after rack of shoes.
The store has more than 100,000 pairs of shoes from 300 brands.
Despite the new slogan pitching everyday shopping, the brothers said they will continue to specialize in hard-to-find sizes and unusual fashions.
The store stocks women's sizes from 11/2 to 14 from super slim to extra wide and men's sizes up to 22, from narrow to six E width.
Another thing that's not changing is the store's location. With their father retired and no spouses or children of their own, the brothers said they could have moved the store to any growing, warm-weather city.
They also acknowledge that downtown Sharon isn't attracting the retail crowds that it used to.
Familiar location
Still, there's something to be said for a location that is familiar to shoppers, they said. Besides attracting shoppers from western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio, the store draws carloads of people from other areas, such as Michigan and New York.
And there's the store's history. It was founded in 1886 in downtown Sharon by John Reyer, a German immigrant. In 1953, Reyer's son, Carl, sold the store to Harry Jubelirer, a second-generation shoe store owner from Pittsburgh.
Jubelirer moved his family to Sharon, expanded the store twice at another location and moved to its current spot in 1986.
"We have a loyalty to Sharon," Mark Jubelirer said. "This is our home."
shilling@vindy.com