Few things are as iconic in downtown Atlanta as the unassuming red store on the corner of Decatur Street in what is now Georgia State University environs. That red store is where dreams were made and properly fitted. Walter Strauss saw to it.
Strauss, who died recently in Atlanta, was a legendary clothing and shoe entrepreneur whose store became the mecca for exotic kicks and street styles popularized by hip-hop celebrities.
Walter Strauss of Walter’s Sneaker Store Passes Away In Atlanta
Atlanta has had other shoe and fashion titans. Florsheims reigned for decades just off Forsyth downtown. But people used to wait in long lines outside Walter’s when a new sneaker came out. That’s just the way it was.
For more than 60 years, Walter’s was the place to buy sneakers for not only metro Atlanta, but the world. People used to fly into town from international cities to cop the latest exotic sneaks from Walters.
Atlanta radio personality and DJ Greg Street said Strauss was a pioneer for men’s sneakers, opening up a market that would be worth billions of dollars decades later. “He took a chance on the vision opening his store in 1952 before us sneaker heads were even thought of, before Nike was even created. We’re going to miss you Walt,” Street said on Instagram.
Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said that Walter’s experience touched him as a child. “Walter Strauss loved Atlanta. So many ATL stories happened there. My Dad took me there to get the leather Converse AllStars when I was a kid. Going there was like a rite of passage for fathers and sons. May God’s grace be with his family and loved ones,” he posted on Twitter.
The Shoegame.com also paid tribute.
Eight years ago, Strauss made the news when longtime Walter’s employee Horace Benton passed away from colon cancer. Strauss told the AJC. “He worked for me for 49 years, and I can tell you he made me. I always felt he would come back.”
Got an event or know of something opening in and around Atlanta? Holla: CJ@AtlantaFi.com. See what’s poppin’ in the ATL! Subscribe to our news alerts here, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.