Fourth Ave Birkenstock is now Fourth Ave Footwear, with the recent sale of the longtime business to Jeanine LeBrell.
She’s managed the store for three years and—with financial support from family—was a natural fit to take over for the retiring Claire and Paul Tinkerhess, who launched the independent store on N. Fourth Ave. in 1989.
Over the years they added more footwear brands, plus clothes, socks, and even mattresses for a time. The community-minded couple’s other pursuits included a side business selling electric cars and bikes, spearheading a sidewalk snow-clearing volunteer effort called SnowBuddy, and founding the Water Hill Music Fest, an eclectic neighborhood annual event that ran from 2011 to 2018.
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LeBrell’s connection began eight years ago as a customer. “I came in, and I bought shoes, and we hit it off really well,” she recalls. “I bypassed the interview process and went straight to training and working.” Her life partner, Gene Johnson, eventually came aboard too, training under Paul as a cobbler. “If we sell it, we like to be able to repair it,” LeBrell says.
She couldn’t get permission from Birkenstock USA to keep the name, but, other than that, “honestly, the only thing that probably needs to be changed around here is the carpet,” she says. “Paul and Claire were here for thirty-five years, and our goal is to be here for another thirty-five.”
Fourth Ave Footwear, 209 N. Fourth Ave. (734) 663–1644. Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun. noon–4 p.m. fourthavefootwear.com
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