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Originally, J-Michael Shoes wasn’t J-Michael Shoes. It began in 1969 as Townsend Shoe Store in downtown Syracuse and moved to Syracuse University’s Marshall Street in 1983.

The shoe store — that sold a lot more than just shoes — will close for good on May 30.

“Syracuse was really good to us,” John Michael Vavalo said.

In 2024, StreeTgame, a sneaker store with several upstate New York locations, bought the shoe store from the Vavalo family. At the ripe age of 12, John Michael began working at the store, helping his dad with whatever he could — which he credits to developing his drive.

John Vavalo, who is now 86 years old, named the store after his son, who was born in 1982 and 1-year-old at the time of J-Michael’s inception. John Michael’s ties to J-Michael go beyond his name. While the Vavalo family doesn’t own the store anymore, John Michael essentially grew up inside J-Michael.

Birkenstock sandals. Canada Goose coats. Barbour jackets. UGG slippers. OnCloud sneakers. These are only a few of the brands and styles that J-Michael carries. Since the store is across the street from SU’s Whitman School of Management, these products were easily accessible in between classes.

A J-Michael Shoes wall is lined with sneakers. John Michael Vavalo, the store’s namesake, began working there at age 12. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

Under the original ownership, employee Deborah Snyder worked at J-Michael from 1986-88 during her freshman and sophomore year at SU. Snyder remembers J-Michael as “a landmark,” and its closing is just another “M-Street legend” to disappear.

Snyder said losing J-Michael is like losing a piece of SU’s history. If you worked at J-Michael, you were practically part of the Vavalo family.

A typical J-Michael shift for Snyder included visits from friends, wholesome conversations with John, helping size customers in Timberland shoes and a stop by Cosmos Pizza and Grill for their toasted honey bun — which Snyder notably calls “THB.”

“It never really felt like work. It just felt like I was just being paid to socialize with my friends,” Snyder said.

Former J-Michael general manager, Erik Hicks, followed in the footsteps of his late father, Jim Hicks, who began working for John in the 1970s when he still owned Townsend Shoes. Jim later became J-Michael’s general manager.

Erik always grew up around the Vavalos, but it wasn’t until 1999 that he was employed by them. With no job after college graduation, Erik began his more than 20-year career at J-Michael.

“I grew up there. I spent most of my adult life there,” Erik said. “It hasn’t quite sunk in for me yet.”

While Erik and John Michael didn’t continue their J-Michael journeys under the new ownership, employees like 25-year-old Colin Smith did.

Smith, who is Erik’s nephew, is the third generation of the Hicks family to work at J-Michael. Before beginning his own career at J-Michael, Smith remembers visiting his family during their shifts at the shoe store.

He began plying his trade full time at J-Michael in 2021 and is now a manager under the new ownership. Smith declined to comment on why the store is going out of business, but he said it’ll be a huge loss for the entire Syracuse community, even beyond SU.

“I had a lot of milestones shared here. This is a huge part of my identity personally,” Smith said. “So it’s definitely going to be a tough loss for me.”

Erik Hicks (left), Jim Hicks and John Vavalo smile by a rack of coats. Erik grew up around the Vavalos and began his over 20-year career at J-Michael Shoes in 1999. Courtesy of Erik Hicks

J-Michael is just another store that won’t exist anymore for SU alumni, like Eydie Balsam, to drop by and reminisce whenever she revisits her alma mater.

Before and after Balsam graduated SU in 1990, J-Michael was a consistent stop whenever she visited Syracuse. As a student, Balsam remembers going into J-Michael for random occurrences more than she shopped there. But when Balsam did buy something there in the late 1980s, it was probably E.G. Smith socks, she said.

“It was a little piece of New York City or Long Island in upstate New York,” Balsam said. “It was a place where you could get an overpriced T-shirt that you probably shouldn’t be spending your money on.”

Paired with her classic Reebok high-top sneakers, Balsam’s white and multicolored thick socks were much more than a sock, they were a J-Michael staple, she said.

Now, Balsam is a parent of an SU sophomore. Currently, Balsam buys a lot more as an adult than she did when she was at SU.

The closure of J-Michael is just another storefront on what Balsam famously calls “M-Street” to fold.

“We didn’t have the internet, so you either went shopping at home or you went to J-Michael,” Balsam said.

When John owned J-Michael, the lodestar of his business was “if it’s hot, it’s here,” John Michael said. John Michael said, in order to sell “hot products,” the atmosphere had to be inviting, and it was.

In the 2000s, John Michael remembers returning to help his father at J-Michael during his school breaks. But when John Michael’s winter break rolled around, John would invite all employees to a big Christmas dinner, amassing more than 25 people. Working at J-Michael was very much like an old-school family, John Michael said.

That familial connection is what kept employees like Erik around until 2024, the end of the Vavalo ownership. Every day at J-Michael was different; some days it was busy, while others weren’t. Whether it was SU students, Syracuse locals or celebrities like Britney Spears or Shaquille O’Neal — who Erik both met at the store — he enjoyed working at J-Michael.

“That’s the special thing about that place, is that there was never an average shift,” Erik said.

While he doesn’t know the exact reason for his eponymous store’s closure, John Michael felt like it was inevitable, he said. He suspects the high rent rates for a spot on Marshall Street could be the rationale behind J-Michael’s extinction.

When John Michael told his father that the store with his nomenclature was officially coming to an end, John responded to his son’s text with a thumb’s up emoji, already foreseeing these circumstances.

But the loss of J-Michael marks a void in a trove of memories for generations of owners like the Vavalos and managers like the Hicks lineage.

“Without them, I don’t think we would have kept up the stamina that long. But really, my dad, Erik and Jim, I give them all the credit in the world,” John Michael said.

Published on April 30, 2026 at 1:17 am
Contact Lily: lvzucker@syr.edu