Dawn Huston, 31, started working at Dansko 11 years ago, sorting shoes for delivery.

WSJ: Small Business Owners Cash Out, but Do Workers Gain?

Dansko makes the most reliably comfortable shoes, Toomey says.

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Ms. Cabot, who launched Dansko in 1990 by selling shoes from the back of a Volvo station wagon, says the tax benefits associated with employee stock ownership enabled the S corporation to manage the long-term debt of buying out the couple's ownership stake.

WSJ: Small Business Owners Cash Out, but Do Workers Gain?