Starting a children's shoe 'shop. business

[Pollyoliver]

Hi,
I am thinking about starting a children's shoe shop business. I have identified a real gap in the market where I live and think that it would work. I would be looking at high end European shoes - ones that are not readily available other than in a handful of independent shops or on the Internet.

I cannot afford premises so thought I could do it by way of friends 'hosting parties' and I could take along the stock. I will be able to properly fit the shoes (if necessary) as I shall go on a short training course. If this works, then I can hopeful build the business up and earn enough to have a shop.

The problem is I have no real idea how to go about it. I currently work part time and intend to keep my job to help build up the business.

I have found a few trade fairs to go to but other than that, am not sure how to approach how much stock I would need etc etc

If any one could help me and give me some advice I'd be very grateful.

Sounds like a good idea. Also could you get stalls at school fairs? I always think that would be a good time and place to sell shoes for children - school takes a cut, kids are there, parents ready to spend money.

I do think high end European shoes are much nicer, especially for boys. It's easy enough to get ok shoes for girls but not for boys. Even John Lewis just has rows and rows of brown geography teacher shoes for three year olds. Please, please, please stock some shoes for boys that aren't brown and covered in trucks

Oh yes, PLEASE to nice shoes for boys. Girls have multitudes of colour, pinks, purples, reds, greens. Boys have mud brown, mud green or mud blue. I once found DS some nice turquoise ones, but even then they were a dark, grey sort of turquoise.

What's wrong with nice bold greens, blues, orange, red? Turquoise, purple.

Thanks for your responses....this is useful because I only have girls. These shoes do come in more expensive though....retailing at anything from £40-£70....do you think people would pay? But they are different....no one else will really have them. They are fabulous quality and really cool designs and colours... I have found some fab designers/manufacturers in Spain, Italy, France, Germany etc. I also thought about maybe hiring our local village hall for an evening if it takes off?

I make a point of spending more on my boy's clothes per item than I do on my girl's clothes because it makes me so mad that she has so much choice and so many lovely things and with him half the time I walk into shops and walk straight out because I'm not buying him ugly brown t shirts that say "little monster" on them.

So yes I would spend around the 40 mark on his shoes and have done (Primigi and Garvalin). But I am a bit of a harpie on this issue and you may well find other people are not so angry about it as I am and are happy to put their boys in what's available from JL and M&S. One thing I always think is that there should just be more unisex shoes in red, green, blue - so you double your audience. Mine wear crocs in the summer - and that works well across genders. Also for smaller children, plain t bar type shoes in lovely colours and nice little kicker style boots (with velcro not laces!)

Good idea. I've started using a woman around here who does a mobile service. I think she is a childminder too but around that (evenings, weekends) she arrives at your house with a pile of shoes having taken age and current size over the phone and measures and fits shoes for the children. It is great and I love knowing that the shoes have been well fitted.

Definitely agree about variety of colours, non pink for girls and nice colours for boys!

You could approach schools to do fittings during the times when parents make uniform orders/ buy uniform. My DS's school do school uniform appointments on certain days in the summer holiday and require pupils to have certain styles of shoe which you have to purchase from somewhere else. It would be great to go in and get his uniform and shoes at the same time, knowing that they are a school approved style.

Our local independant children's shoe shop has recently stopped trading because they couldn't get enough people to pay £40 - £70 a pair for children's shoes. We bought a couple of pairs of shoes for my son from there but as we've had less disposable income, paying £65 for toddler boy's boots, even if you do fit them half a size too big so they get 6 months' wear out of the shoes, was unrealistic. She just couldn't get enough repeat business as customers' disposable income dropped. It was a shame, as she measured his feet really well, but people are cutting costs on everything - if you're in a more affluent area then this might work, but it hasn't in the East Midlands. Sorry!

It sounds good but make sure you plan your cash flow and stock control carefully. 5 styles of shoe in 10 sizes is 50 pairs, of youre paying £50 a pair then that's £2500 tied up in stock. To do fittings you'll need to carry the stock, at least on a sale or return basis.

Lots of shoe companies, big and small, fail due to cash flow problems. I don't want to discourage you but please make sure your business plan is robust and form a limited liability company to protect your own assets.

Good luck.

I wouldn't want to spend that much on shoes that will inevitably only get a few months wear. I would for me, but as children's feet grow so quickly I'm not convinced you will have a large enough market, unless you live in a particularly affluent area.

What indith said would be great for me!

yy, do your market research before you buy lots of stock, I would pay £40 MAX for my children's shoes. I buy them all from Clarks, sometimes from ECCO. I go for sale items if I can. I don't want to compromise on quality for my kids, but the little amount of time they spend in them I think it is a rip off.

So......just make sure you have a market that will sustain high end children's shoes. I don't think it would work where I am-Somerset.

If you look on old threads here, many of us are huge fans of Primigi for boys shoes.

I don't know about the hosting parties bit as I wouldn't buy shoes without DS with me. That would mean a large house full of kids for someone which may be fine in summer with access to garden.

What about something like a VW camper van that you kitted out and could take round playgroups/village halls etc?

Guys - this is all fab. I need the pros but definitely the cons. I don't want to convince myself its a good idea and get carried away! I need to think about what is involved and whether it could be a success. I am very concerned about the cost and really need to keep my costs down, hence, being a 'mobile' service to start with. I am planning to maybe spend £2k on stock and whatever I make, keep reinvesting. I am currently putting together a business plan but its very hard and seems to be a lot of guess work

I'm not sure how hosting parties would work. Apart from the run up to the new school year, wouldn't it be difficult to find enough feet to measure at any one time? A mobile service sounds a better option, but I would expect to pay less than high street prices.

Good luck though,

It wouldn't work round here (South Yorkshire). I do buy DD's shoes from Clarks and Clinks (she has very narrow feet and off the shelf shoes don't fit), but have never paid more than £36.

There is an organisation round here that does something similar, but has events at soft play places in the school hols and stocks season appropriate shoes; slippers, plimsolls, trainers and wellies as well as outdoor shoes.The lady measures up and has a few of most styles in stock in her van and a "trying on" style of everything. You can order stuff which she sends out if she does not have it on her. The sell a variety of styles and brands, but I think £40 is about their highest price. I don't live in a area where many (any?) families could afford £70 for children's shoes, however nice they are, particularly if more than one child or more than one pair of shoes.

You'd be surprised Bunbaker; there's a shoe shop (can't remember the name) in Sheffield S11 that sells European children's shoes and has been successful for decades.

Good luck, OP.

I have done some research with friends who said they would buy because at the moment, they have to take a punt and buy off the internet and hope they fit. But I think it would be fair to say my friends probably spend more than average on clothes and shoes, so I don't really have an balanced opinion. I agree with iseenodust and this has concerned me. Although the idea about pitching up at a local play ran is a fab idea as I have a friend that owns one in my area!

I think Primigi and the like are well worth the extra because they wear so much better. But convincing people to try them might be hard. I do think mobile fitting might be an excellent option and should keep your costs right down. I would love it if we had someone doing that here as our local independent shoe shop closed a couple of years back. DS's Clarks are cheaper but it shows because they're falling apart.

What about a discount for siblings?!

I must admit that I don't like Clarkes. I think they have young kids that don't fit that well and the shoes are very very limited. I travel about 25 miles to a shop that sells Primigi, Noel, Petasil, elephantito etc because I love the quality and the style of them.....but just because I do it, doesn't mean that the majority of people would. I paid £55 for some sandals for my daughter last year and that was in Jones the Bootmaker - nothing fancy!

Wearing well is a bit of a non issue with kids shoes as long as you are not buying cheap stuff as they grow out of them so quickly. I bought 2 pairs of winter shoes last year for DS as he is growing so much.

I live quite near Clarks village and just about everyone I know gets their kids shoes there.

Crocs are fab as they tend to last and last and are indefinite/flex sizes.

I would aim to stick to the parties/mobile service and possibly franchise out with other shoe party people bellow you

someone local to me opened a shop exaclty like you describe, because its very much a niche thing, there wasn't much passing trade, its not really an impulse buy, so it failed. People do travel to the "ordinary" indi shoe shop in our area (who mostly stock start rite and clarkes) because they do better fittings than clarks, but people didn't travel to the specialist one, I passed it at least once a week, browsed, but never bought! your market will be quite spread out as its qute a luxury item. The lady who ran the shop got quite desperate by the end and was literally pulling people in off the street and made a breast feeding corner which a lot of people used, but none of that is gonna make people change their shoe buying habits - you need to find the people who are likely to buy those kinds of shoes and target them

It is such a risk, which is why I am going to try and keep my current job for the time being. It's hard to know how people will react, which is why market research is so important. Am grateful for all the comments.

"You'd be surprised Bunbaker; there's a shoe shop (can't remember the name) in Sheffield S11 that sells European children's shoes and has been successful for decades."

Where I live is a lot less affluent than Sheffield. I agree that Clarks do a limited range, which is why my first port of call is Clinks. I have never heard of the brands you mention Pollyoliver, but I don't go looking for brands when buying shoes for DD. I just go for the right size as she has awkward feet. For that reason I never buy shoes off the internet either.

I am not sure it is necessarily about the brand per se, but the quality. My daughters both have width fittings E and suffer with dreadful blisters if shoes are not correctly fitted. I have found that these brands offer narrower fittings and are made of such lovely leather, blisters have never been a problem - this is why I prefer them - they are better quality but I do pay a premium price for this. I also think they are much prettier and offer a broader range of designs.