Celebrating 50 Years of Footloose & Fancy!

Wow, we cannot believe we made it to half a century. What an incredible milestone! Running a local business for this long is no small feat and would not be possible without all the amazing staff, brand reps, and customers that have crossed our paths throughout the last 5 decades. 

Birthday Celebrations

While we celebrate each new day as a locally owned business, 50 years is extra special and deserves to be celebrated as such. We plan to party all month long during March with giveaways, gifts with purchases, in-store specials and more! Be sure to stop in all month long to help us celebrate!

The actual day of our birthday falls on Saturday, March 15 so we are planning an all-day extravaganza! Bring your friends and family in from 10 to 5 and indulge in all the party festivities including sweet treats, drinks for purchase at our bar, a photo opportunity with our MASSIVE Birkenstock footbed and so much more! We want to celebrate with all the people who have played a part in keeping us open for 50 years and of course, we would love to see some new faces as well so bring everyone you know! 

We know that it’s been awhile since we have seen some of you so as a reminder, we moved across the street in November of 2022 to 1222 P St. We are in between Swanson Russell and the Cadillac Lofts. Below is a picture of our building! We cannot wait to see you:)

For more information, head to our Facebook event page here!

Our History

50 years, 2 owners, 4 locations and so many memories. Our story starts when Marla and Jim McCabe opened the country’s 3rd ever Birkenstock store in 1975. Jim and Marla were looking for a business they believed in and that is when Jim discovered the shoe brand at an arts and crafts fair in California and they decided Birkenstock was the perfect brand to make their dream come to fruition. In 1975, they opened the Birkenstock store at 13th and P streets in the lower level of Douglas Theaters. Two years later, Footloose & Fancy moved to 1219 P St. where it would stay for the next 45 years. In 2002, Jane, a longtime employee of the shoe store, bought the business. In 2004, Jane and Matt Stricker opened a second location in south Lincoln. The downtown store faced many renovations throughout the years to ensure a fresh and functional space as it continued to grow. Fast forward to 2012, the store expanded, brought in clothing and added Threads to the name, making it known as Threads + Footloose & Fancy. The first clothing brand we carried was The North Face which we still proudly sell today. We now carry over 20 brands. Jane and Chelsea travel to Las Vegas biannually to scope out new and exciting brands and products for the store! In 2021 the south store closed its doors and the focus was shifted entirely to our downtown store. Jane and Matt bought the building we now reside in at 1222 P St. where they first renovated and opened apartments with hope to then move the shoe store in space underneath the apartment. In November of 2022, we made the move across the street to a bigger custom space that perfectly fit the store's needs. We got our liquor license and built a bar area in the back to make the store a fun and comfortable place for people to gather and host events. We honor the original store by decorating with original pieces including signage and benches. We are loving our new space and cant wait to continue making memories here. If you havent stopped by in a couple years, we would love to see you this month!

The key to success is community

Our store has become more than just a place to buy shoes but a place to gather and connect with all kinds of people. With the addition of the bar in our new space, we have the ability to host all kinds of events and serve food and drinks. People have the opportunity to rent out our space for free for their office parties, girls nights, birthdays, really anything! They get the store to themselves, can bring food/drinks to serve, special in-store discounts and our undivided attention. If you are ever interested in hosting a shopping event with us, don't hesitate to DM us on Instagram @ThreadsDowntown or give our store a call at (402) 476-6119. Aside from private events, we love to participate in community events like First Fridays, Shop The Blocks, Small Business Saturday, Pineapple Days and so much more!

Another benefit of having this larger space is that we were able to do our annual shoe sale like we used to do at our south store years ago. We marked down 100s of shoes and clothing items and sent so much good stuff home with you all! It was a huge success and we saw some many new and familiar faces throughout the 4 day sale. We are working out the details of the 2025 Summer Shoe Sale so stay tuned for more information later this spring.

A Thank-You to our Customers

As we reflect on these last 50 years, we want to thank each of you for your support, trust and loyalty.

To our customers: Thank you for choosing us and making us a part of your lives. Your continued patronage has been the heart of our success. We've watched many of you become more like family, and we cherish the relationships we've built over the years.

To the Lincoln community: thank you for being the foundation on which our business was built. Your spirit, encouragement, and belief in local businesses have allowed us to grow, thrive, and contribute back to the area we love.

Here's to the next 50 years! We look forward to serving you for many more years to come, continuing to create great memories and support our community together.

With love always,

Threads + Footloose & Fancy