June Mulhall was a shoe addict who turned her passion into a business and has enabled untold numbers of other shoe addicts for 33 years.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget C. June Shoes’ selection of purses and accessories.

"Ask any woman if she has heard of C. June Shoes and I think they will answer ‘yes,’" said Agnes Ho, Mulhall’s friend and tennis partner.

After more than three decades, the shoe-nut turned retailer is looking to find a buyer for her business, and retire.

Mulhall "is one of our oldest and dearest merchants," said Bobbie Lau, Ward Centers general manager. "Her storefront … will be missed by the many shoppers and kamaaina who have long considered it a touchstone for their elegant footwear needs."

But Lau added that "we all wish her the best as she enters this next chapter of her life: her very well-deserved retirement."

The shop gained almost instant traction with shoppers, and not just from Hawaii.

One of the world’s most infamous shoe addicts, former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, once had the store closed so she and her daughter could shop in privacy, Mulhall said. That was before the Marcos family’s 1986 Hawaii exile, in the early days of Mulhall’s first store at Ward Warehouse.

One regular customer had an ownership stake in the Denver Broncos and would shop at C. June "before she would even check in to her hotel," Mulhall said.

Most customers who have shopped at C. June Shoes were not really shoe addicts, but women looking for special-occasion shoes to match, say, a prom dress, wedding dress or other fancy frock, for fun sandals or slippers, or just for comfy shoes.

Mulhall, now 76, was known for her selection of designer shoes by Stuart Weitzman and others, long before high-end mainland retailers set up shop in Hawaii. The high-end stores did not put her out of business. Rather, she told a local publication once they actually would refer shoppers to her, and vice versa.

"Over the years she has worked to build her business and has done well," Ho said, noting that she not only survived the financial downturn, but kept the business afloat, going to work every day even through chemotherapy after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Mulhall’s first store was 400 square feet in her late husband’s store, Lyle’s Interiors. June’s operation was in the furniture store’s loft, or "mezzanine," as she described it.

Working for a government contractor, Mulhall’s job required travel to Dallas with a four-hour layover in Los Angeles, where she found and fell in love with a store called C. Jean Shoes. With each layover she "would buy 12 pair at a time."

Because of the repeated four-hour layovers, "my boss always thought I was having an affair," she laughed. "Yes I was, but it was a shoe affair."

In 1979 the affair blossomed into a committed relationship as a retailer, with a store name inspired by her favorite shop.

The C. in C. June "stands for ‘see June for your shoes,’" she said.

She operated out of the small space until her 1981 move to the Waikiki Trade Center, where the store remained until "Victoria Ward came back to me (and said) they wanted me to come back, and I’ve been in my present location since 1996," Mulhall said.

While her Waikiki customer base was largely visitors, she maintained a loyal local following.

A radio station co-worker of your columnist back in the 1980s, who always wore sexy and stylish, sky-high heels, often with ankle straps, "always" bought her shoes at C. June, she said.

"I have so many wonderful customers," said Mulhall.

Some of those customers were, you’ll pardon the pun, quite well-heeled.

"One evening we had two couples from the Kahala Hilton. One bought $11,000 (worth of shoes) and the other, $9,000, and they had limos to take their purchases back to the hotel."

She remembers carrying a selection of shoes from her store to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for customers from Saudi Arabia.

"It’s been a good ride, but I think it’s time," she said.

Mulhall and her son Guy West run the store by themselves — and it is open daily.

There is no plan to keep it running as a family business. Husband Lyle died in 1985. Her daughters are in California, and her son has his own plans, she said.

She has two years left on her lease and one potential buyer who has expressed interest, but she is open to any and all offers, she said.

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On the Net:
>> www.cjuneshoes.com/shoes.html
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.