As he discussed his retail venture Shoenique, Kevin Lennon used the words she and her maybe a dozen times each — as in “she doesn’t want her mother’s foot problems,” or “we’re not here to just sell her a shoe,” or “she’s tired of her feet hurting.”

He did this to talk about all his customers, really, or what might be considered a typical customer, although he wouldn’t use that term ‘typical’ because his clientele varies in age from 25 to 65, and each individual who walks in the store is different.

But by using such phraseology, Lennon managed to effectively get his points across in a wide-ranging interview for this, the latest segment in BusinessWest’s new Companies to Watch series. And the biggest point is that this store, opened in 1998, is focused on comfort and helping women find it, while also keeping the other eye on fashion.

And as he elaborated on this message, Lennon made use of a term most wouldn’t be familiar with: podorthists. “We’re shoe fitters here,” he explained. “We’re not clerks. And we’re not doctors; our job is to make the customer as comfortable as they can be with their foot.”

The methodology for doing that job is what Lennon refers to as “old-time retailing,” or a focus on detail and service that one won’t find at national big-box chains, and certainly not if they order a pair of shoes online, a habit that Lennon considers a real threat to his business and others like it.

“The brick-and-mortar store is under attack,” he said while vigorously promoting the cause of locally owned businesses and stating the importance of buying from such establishments. “We’re in a fight to stay alive.”

Lennon has been waging this fight for a dozen years now, or since he decided he needed to move on from being a wholesale representative for several European comfort shoemakers and find a new challenge.

“I saw a need in the market for a better-grade shoe store,” he explained, noting that he opened Shoenique in 1998 in what’s known colloquially as the Hu Ke Lau plaza in Longmeadow. He would later move to the Longmeadow Shops, which, he said, provides more visibility and foot traffic due to the concentration of small boutique shops like his that make the facility a retail destination.

In the beginning, and for many years, Shoenique catered to both men and women. In recent years, however, and especially since the advent of more-casual attire in the workplace, the men’s market has become far less profitable, Lennon explained, and for that reason he now focuses exclusively on women.

The store features mostly higher-end shoes, with most models made by European makers and focused on comfort, but with some style. Lennon also stocks shelves with accessory items, ranging from handbags to jewelry to wool socks that have been a hugely popular item.

The store has recorded growth every year since it opened (except 2008 and the Great Recession), and has amassed a client list approaching 6,000 (not all of them active), with many customers coming from Longmeadow and East Longmeadow, but others from Northern Conn., Springfield, and communities west of the Connecticut River.

They come to Shoenique for a mix of quality and comfort, said Lennon, noting that, over the years, the company has evolved somewhat. It has always placed an emphasis on comfort, but recently, those efforts have escalated to the point where Lennon says, “I’m passionate about what we do.”

Indeed, for several years now, the store has offered over-the-counter orthotics to make women more comfortable in whatever shoes they’re wearing, and Lennon recently added equipment that measures the size of the foot as well where pressure is exerted, all in an effort to match the customer with the right shoe and the right size.

“Many women are in denial,” he explained. “They’ll say, ‘my mother had bunions, so I’m going to have bunions.’ And while it’s somewhat true that with that family history one may be more susceptible to it, most of the cause of bunions is ill-fitting shoes, and it’s the same with hammer toes.

“We’re dealing with the mechanics of the foot here, and that’s what separates us from other shoe stores out there,” he continued. “I’ve had three training sessions from the top guy in the country when it comes to foot mechanics.”

Beyond the equipment and the training, Lennon says he and his staff focus on asking all the necessary questions of customers eyeing a certain make or style — another element missing at larger facilities and online outfits. And the most important question is, ‘what are you going to do with these shoes?’

“That’s part of the sale process, or at least it should be, and very often, it isn’t,” he explained. “People come in looking for an athletic shoe, and most will try to pick it by the color. Instead, they have to start with what they’re going to do in those shoes. We’ve refused to sell people shoes because they were wrong for them, and the customer respects that.”

Or, put another way, she respects that.

—George O’Brien