Ann Slay and Sara Quinn have worked at American Shoe for most of their lives, but their passion for serving customers hasn't dulled over the years.
Their high energy radiated last Wednesday as they threw some good-natured jokes at each other while reminiscing on their experiences at the family business.
Slay and Quinn hauled out a large folder containing copies of old newspaper clippings and advertisements and spread the articles on the store counter. Nearby, a photo album containing black-and-white and sepia family photographs throughout the century lay open, allowing customers to flip through some of the pages.
In June 1919, Slay and Quinn's grandfather, Elias Thomas, opened a shoe repair department at 129 E. High St., where Sweet Smoke BBQ currently resides.
Over the next 100 years, the business grew, and generation after generation has stepped up to keep the family-owned, family-operated American Shoe store thriving. Now, a fifth generation is being trained to possibly take over the business one day.
"It's amazing. We love this place, and I think it's in our blood," Quinn said. "You either have a passion or you're a little crazy. I think we're a little bit of both."
The family will hold a ribbon-cutting at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the downtown Jefferson City store to celebrate the accomplishment and thank the community for their support.
Shortly after taking over the family business, Jim Thomas, Slay and Quinn's father, purchased the building at 221 E. High St. in 1962 and moved American Shoe to its current home, where it went through two large renovations in 1988 and 2011.
The business went beyond the confines of the Capital City. The family opened a store in Columbia in 1975.
Both sisters remember the Jefferson City store as an integral part of their childhood.
Slay recalled walking from St. Peter Interparish School to the store to count pennies and mills. Quinn, on the other hand, has vivid memories of taking an inventory of the whole store on New Year's Eve, checking out customers and rearranging shelves as a child.
While Slay and Quinn were involved in the business growing up, it was their older brother, Jody Thomas, who stepped up to manage the stores for about four decades before retiring in 2003.
After his retirement, that's when the two sisters decided it was their time to take over the family business.
"And we rock," Quinn jokingly said.
On a more serious note, Quinn said she thought her father was "extremely proud of us when he passed (in 2012)."
"I think my grandfather and grandmother are probably rolling in their graves thinking, 'Oh my gosh, these kids' - as they would have put it - 'are still working hard,'" she said. "It's just totally amazing. You can never truly ever walk away from it."
Running a business for 100 years isn't an easy feat. Not only are there daily tasks like dusting and cleaning the bathrooms, but there have also been hurdles each generation has had to jump, from wars to economic downturns.
Despite the ups and downs, the sisters are hopeful for the future, and they envision the next generations will continue to carry the torch.
"They have done a lot already, and it's changed the dynamics of the store," Slay said. "It's brought new, innovated things to us that we didn't think of and that's important. You can't just stagnate. It's good to have that give and take to put into the business, and I'm hoping that my children and Sara's kids that are involved, I hope they continue - and my thought is I hope somebody in their families, that when they're ready to start turning it over, that they'll be wanting to take it over."
That hope has already started to become a reality for at least one of the sisters' children.
In the back of the Jefferson City store last Wednesday, Quinn's son, Luke, rearranged shoes while talking on the phone with a customer.
As part of the fourth generation, Luke Quinn said he is humbled the store has been in the family for a century and he has the opportunity to continue the business.
"It's almost like the idea of riding on the shoulders of giants," he said. "My great-grandpa, my grandpa - all that they did for this store for years. My mom, my aunt, my uncle - they have done so much to keep it alive, and I'm just hoping I can continue that into the fourth generation."
Luke remembers building forts out of empty store boxes and helping stock the shelves when he was a young boy. Now, the 36-year-old is watching his children and his cousins' children - the fifth generation - form those same memories at the Jefferson City and Columbia locations.
The children - who range from 2-16 years old - are learning the ropes of the business - dusting shelves, doing school projects on shoe repair, or simply playing in the stores.
"Luke's little ones come running through here and go running up the steps just like I used to when I was little," Quinn said. "For me, it's like it's come full circle. Whether those little guys will be involved in the business or not, I think just having the opportunity to come and see Grandma and Auntie and Dad and run around here and know that they're welcomed here is a great thing. That's how I felt, and I hope that's the way they feel."
The children aren't the only ones to have evolved over the decades. The store and the shoes on its shelves have developed over the years, but customers can still see some reminders of the previous decades.
When Slay and Quinn's grandfather opened the shoe repair department more than 100 years ago, the business sold a small selection of shoes. Now, customers are greeted by more than 100 shoes of various colors and styles. The store still has a shoe repair space in the back, but it is seldom used, Slay said.
The sisters are starting to see shoe trends from the Great Depression era return to today's fashion industry, but the shoes now have an edginess to them, Quinn said. Looking around the store, she pointed out modern shoes on the shelves that had similar designs to the 1920s and 1930s lace-up shoes on display at the front of the store.
Working in the ever-evolving fashion industry can be difficult, Slay and Quinn said, because something that is popular today might not be in six months. But having younger family members who are interested in fashion trends helps.
"I think there comes a time when it's great to hand it off because the younger generation has an eye - they see more, they know more," Quinn said. "They still ask questions - and we did too when we did it - but I'm glad a majority of it is out of my hands as far as the buying goes."
It's just one more step in turning over the store to the next generation of American Shoe owners.
Until that day arrives, the sisters said they will continue enjoying greeting customers and being a radiating beam of energy in the store - while also throwing jokes at each other occasionally.