Signs

The end of a year is usually the time when many of us get a bit philosophical. Especially over a coffee and the remnants of a gingerbread house provoking questions such as: “Why did I have to eat ALL of the gingerbread walls? Why couldn’t I stop with the door? And perhaps just one wall?

But anyway.

In my last blog I talked about what an amazing year it’s been, capped with a fantastic article in Melbourne’s Sunday Age on Boxing Day. For those of you that missed it, you can read it here but basically, I sent a letter to the editor of the newspaper hoping to find a particular person, Elizabeth. Rewinding a bit more, Elizabeth from Bendigo had written her own letter to the Age editor back in July 2009 bemoaning the lack of lovely shoes in her size – 12. I read this letter and experienced what was probably my first ever epiphany, or light bulb moment. Suddenly, the idea for fashionable shoes in larger sizes that I had been carrying around for years (ok, decades really) began to crystallize and gain substance. That was the point that I began to seriously research the idea and put together a business plan. Nine months later (yes, I can see the irony in that too!), Glamazon Shoes opened its doors in Melbourne. Honestly, if I had stopped to seriously think about it, I may have ended up backing out due to the largeness of it all but it felt so right. When you know, you know, yes?

So back to the present day. I have Elizabeth’s original letter pinned up in the back of the shop. A few weeks ago I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great to find Elizabeth and thank her with a free pair of shoes? Yes, it’s potentially a good media story but from a personal viewpoint, I wanted her to know just what effect her original letter had, and the chain of events it started. If I was to go all metaphysical (please indulge me for a moment), I’d say that the main things I learnt were 1) ‘signs’ are everywhere, don’t be afraid to greet them and get them to pull up a chair in your life, and 2) you never know what effect you will have on someone when you do or put something out there.

Now, back to the Elizabeth story. Instead of getting my letter to the editor published, I was very, very fortunate to get an actual story (with photo!) published in the Sunday Age on Boxing Day. A couple of days went by and whilst it generated a lot of interest in Glamazon (yay free plug!), there was still no sign of Elizabeth. Until four days after the article, I received a call from the Bendigo Advertiser wanting to publish a piece on my Cinderella search for Elizabeth.

Bingo. Elizabeth finally got wind of the story through friends that had seen the Bendigo Advertiser. I am extremely happy to say that I finally met Elizabeth when she came into the shop today, fittingly the last day of 2010, and got my chance to thank her profusely for her unwitting inspiration. She is an absolutely gorgeous and delightful woman and it was such a pleasure to meet her on so many levels.

So the moral of the story children is this. You just never. Ever. Know. Wishing you all a glorious and stupendous new year for 2011.

As always, yours in shoes, Mira xx

The year that was and is going to be

Don’t worry; I’m not going to break into song. As 2010 draws to a close, it’s an appropriate time to give a salute to the year that was, and turn to face the year that will be. This was a huge year for me personally, having managed to deliver my Glamazon Shoes baby, an undertaking which has caused time to accelerate immeasurably. I’m sure that Mr. Einstein would be impressed. As Glamazon Shoes heads towards its eighth month, the ideas and plans for the business just keep coming.

We’re looking forward to a very exciting 2011. In no particular order, there’s the expansion of our range. We’re always on the lookout for shoes that are a) gorgeous, b) affordable and most importantly, c) go to at least a size 13, if not higher. Whilst on the subject, we’re quietly thrilled that we’ve just placed an order with a new supplier that do shoes up to size 15. Size. Fifteen. We could not be more excited if we tried! These are due in the first quarter of the year and we’ll definitely let you know when they arrive.

We are also in the throes of upgrading our current website to an e-commerce site. That’s right girls, now you’ll be able to see what’s in stock and order shoes with a click of your mouse. Not only are we passionate about providing shoes for glamazons, we’re passionate about supplying them to glamazons EVERYWHERE. Glamazons will live up to the title by becoming footwear trendsetters. If it hasn’t already happened to you (and we’ve had great feedback from customers to whom this has happened), imagine how great it will be to get asked where WE get our shoes from? And from our smaller-footed sisters as well! I’m sure that you, my glamazons know exactly what I mean.

On a final note, merry Christmas, happy holidays – we hope you stay healthy and safe, and look forward to meeting you all at some stage in the future.

Our trading hours over the next 2 weeks are as follows:

Sat 25th December: CLOSED
Mon 27th December: CLOSED
Tues 28th December: CLOSED
Wed 29th December: 10am – 4pm
Thur 30th December: 10am – 4pm
Fri 31st December: 10am – 4pm
Sat 1st January: CLOSED
Mon 3rd January: CLOSED
Tue 4th January: 10am – 4pm (back to normal trading hours)
Wed 5th January: 10am – 5pm (back to normal trading hours)

After all, the shoe must go on!

I've got my eye on you

Working in the footwear industry, a big part of my job is viewing styles to stock throughout the year. This is the fun part. The slightly more stressful part is making a decision and selecting shoes that will hopefully sell. Even those that have worked in the industry for decades tell me that there is no science or guarantees. There is always an element of risk. Shoes that you love and think will fly out the doors can sometimes turn out to be flops (and not flip-flops. Ha. Ha.). Then there’s the sensible (read: nanna) shoes that you (personally) wouldn’t look twice at that end up selling out. Who’s to know?

Another fun part of the job is getting to wear the product. (Hey, you’re your own best promoter!) Of course, owning a shoe shop, my shoes are now immediately checked out by friends and people I run into. I always feel a bit like I have something to prove and must at all times be kitted out in lovely footwear or I’ll be imagining them thinking: “wow, can’t believe she runs a shoe shop. You wouldn’t think it looking at her feet!” But I digress.

The harshest critics are the youngest. Getting checked out by 5 year olds who are quite blatant about it. No discrete looks, no not for them. It’s an open once-over, up and down, followed by a comment about something that you’re wearing. And for some strange reason, their approval almost means more to me than that of their mothers! They don’t know how to lie, there are no filters. They simply tell it like it is. The older girls are slightly more discrete. I was picking up my morning coffee from across the road when I happened upon a group of 9-10 year olds with their mothers, and they're not even necessarily girls with big feet. Needless to say it was the young girls doing the checking out, gazes lingering on my footwear. Whilst I wouldn’t say that it unnerved me – they were only 10! – it certainly made me stand taller and prouder which I guess is not a bad thing.

Is this behaviour environmental (ie. they pick it up from friends, family etc.) or genetic (ie. a ‘girl thing’)? Would love to know.

Variety is the spice of life

Glamazon Shoes has been cruising along for almost 7 months now and I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many different people. Initially, the main premise behind Glamazon was large shoe sizes for women, or beautiful shoes for bigger feet as per our tagline. Whilst the majority of customers have definitely been women with larger feet, there have been a few other interesting customer groups or segments emerging. Young tall girls in their teens often come in searching for size 11, size 12 and even size 13 shoes, so we do our best to always ensure that there are styles in store that will appeal to this younger group. Young teenage girls especially, can be quite particular about image and fashion. They tend to be less inclined to settle for any old shoe that fits, and why should they? Unfortunately if you’ve been searching for larger sizes over a prolonged period of time such as years (like some of us have), you can sometimes (read: often) weaken and settle for anything that fits.

Then there are other groups of customers that have graced Glamazon’s doorway – cross-dressers, transvestites and transsexuals. It’s been lovely to be able to fit these particular customers who are also constantly searching for larger women’s shoes. What I love in particular about my ‘boys and girls’ is that they’re not afraid to ‘bling it on’ and choose the really lovely dressy shoes, which proves that style knows no gender boundaries. I’ve even dabbled in some styling and had an absolute ball suggesting shoes for outfits. When you love fashion, you’re never too old to play at dress-ups!

One sentiment that has been expressed by all of the customer groups that I’ve mentioned is that it’s so nice not having to resort to the fetish and tranny shops for larger shoes anymore. Sure, the fetish shops may have their place but sometimes we just want a beautiful pair of heels in our size. We have big feet and we love shoes. Go figure.

Waste not, want not

Glamazon Shoes has been in business for 6 months now, and to say it’s been a steep learning curve is a massive understatement. There have been some fantastic lessons learnt along the way. Then there have also been some quite painful and expensive ones. No matter what your experience, it’s fair to say that there is an element of trial and error with anything new, particularly in the area of marketing. It’s not as simple as just placing an ad in the paper or sitting back and waiting for word of mouth to kick in. These days marketing strategies and tactics can be quite complex and entail a lot of different activities. Print advertising, radio, TV (if the budget allows), leaflet drops and of course, social media, which is a world in itself. It can be difficult to know where to spend the money, particularly with a limited budget as a startup. That’s where the trial and error part comes in. You spend the dollars in a particular medium and then review how effective it was and how much ‘bang for your buck’ the business received. Obviously the ideal is spending as little as possible and getting a heap of publicity in return. Glamazon has already seen both sides of that particular coin. A big win for us back in June was a free plug – with photo – in one of Melbourne’s biggest newspapers, the Sunday Herald-Sun. The response was phenomenal and sales skyrocketed in the weeks afterwards before coming back to earth. Then there was our very unfortunate experience with a boutique PR agency. They were great on the sales pitch and in taking a 5 figure sum for their ‘work’ but only managed to deliver a brief write-up in an online shopping directory. That particular experience certainly hurt, but has it turned me off PR? Not in the least. I still firmly believe that deployment of a good PR strategy by someone that knows what they’re doing, can be incredible in kick-starting a business. How to pick the right one….. well, that’s the million dollar question. Hopefully it doesn’t end up costing as much.

Power in numbers

Glamazon Shoes is an independent retailer, which has its good and not always so good bits. Good in that we’re not constrained by any corporate higher power telling us what to do, how to do it etc. Not always so good in that it can be a little isolating and overwhelming at times, and we certainly can’t compete with the big shoe businesses and chain stores out there. Recently I was invited by another footwear retailer that’s part of an association of independent footwear shops. The group meets informally once a month over dinner to discuss business, how things are going, how sales have been, any particular issues affecting them, especially in relation to mutual suppliers etc. I attended my first meeting the other night and was made to feel incredibly welcome, something you’re not quite sure you’re going to get from people that may be your competitors. The individuals were extremely warm, friendly and quite open in sharing experiences. Some of what they were saying was quite daunting, but I left with a general feeling of optimism and solidarity, which when you’re a sole operator, can be priceless.

On a personal level, I consider myself more of a ‘people person’, meaning that I often draw bursts of energy from people around me. One of the biggest challenges I face as a sole operator is to maintain the positive energy, particularly on flat days which we can all understand. This is when it becomes critical to seek out and get involved in forums, associations, networking events etc. in order to mix with others in similar situations. The support you give each other and the learnings you undertake go a long way in helping you keep the faith and give you the impetus to keep going through the tough times. Don’t get me wrong. I have an extraordinary belief and passion in the concept behind Glamazon Shoes and providing beautiful shoes in large sizes for women and girls. That doesn’t change. But the reality behind realising the dream of running a business day to day can at times get difficult and even overwhelming. These are the times when networking and sharing with others in the same boat gives you the necessary boost to continue and keep the dream alive.

Sell, sell, sell – or not?

There are a multitude of business books out there, all professing to teach you the art of selling. But is this something that can be taught by rote simply by reading a book? Can you learn to be a good salesperson from a book? Is it an art? Can anyone learn to be a really good salesperson? Is a good salesperson just about selling maximum amount of product to as many people as possible that walk through the door? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, no, absolutely not. But then, what would I know about sales? The closest I got was a stint as a checkout chick at KFC whilst at uni a few years ago (ok, it was more like a few decades ago). Sales has always been an area that I’ve avoided like the plague as it has always conjured up images of smarmy, slick types heaping on the bullshit. Regardless of what they were trying to sell. I guess I’m pretty typical of most Aussies in that our crap detectors are set reasonably high and we begin retreating at the first hint of a sales pitch. For anything.

So how can someone who has never really worked as a salesperson be expected to a) enjoy and b) be effective in a role that is all about selling to customers?

Unsurprisingly to myself, I’ve absolutely loved this new incarnation as a ‘sales chick’. It helps that I’m working with products I’m very passionate about and promoting a concept – beautiful shoes for bigger feet – that I’ve been obsessed with since I was a teenager with size 11 feet. When I’m talking to or assisting customers, it doesn’t feel like selling, particularly when they’re over a size 10. To be honest, it feels more like a community service for women. I find that the products generally sell themselves. My job, as I see it is to try and connect with the customer, help them figure out what they want/need, and then provide it. I will not try and convince them to buy something they don’t want. If you’ve managed to make a connection with a customer, then it will be fairly obvious how they feel about the shoes they’re trying on. In fact, there have been times that I’ve advised against a purchase as I can see in their faces that the shoes don’t quite fit properly or they’re not 100% happy with them. I don’t consider it a lost sale if they walk out empty handed, as often I know they’ll be back.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s all about connecting with people and forging relationships. The sales will come naturally.

Winter

No, this is not a reference to how rubbish Melbourne’s weather has been. Or even this winter just past. It’s hard to fathom but footwear retailers are already looking at styles and trends for next autumn/winter. Yes, that’s 2011. Orders need to be placed now so that winter stock can be delivered by the beginning of autumn. So no sooner do you take delivery of all of your current season stock then you’re being asked to commit to styles and quantities for a season 6-8 months down the track. A pack of tarot cards and a crystal ball would probably be ideal tools right about now. It does help though that being in the southern hemisphere we are always going to be behind the seasons and trends of the northern hemisphere.

So what are some of the trends we’re seeing coming up for 2011?

We’re seeing the wedge style follow through into pumps, boots and booties which look absolutely gorgeous. Speaking of boots, there seems to be a bit of lacing action happening in that department. When combined with a quirky arched heel the look can be quite Victorian. Very feminine. And colour. Lovely, lovely colours through winter. Definitely a welcome change from basic black.

Out with the old, in with the new

I’ve been doing some long overdue spring cleaning at home lately in the wardrobe department. Thanks to a very good friend of mine, who has taken on the role of both Trinny and Susannah and helped me to be absolutely ruthless with my clothes and of course, shoes. I won’t even mention some of the horrors encountered in the clothes pile but my justification was that at one point in time, I believed that each article of clothing that I had bought, actually looked good. The shoes however, are a completely different story. Having a size 11 foot meant that I wasn’t exactly spoilt for choice when it came to shoe shopping. When I began to cull my shoe cupboard, I started to see just what my decision making processes must have been like in the dim, dark days before Glamazon Shoes. When shopping for shoes, the criteria were essentially as follows:

Do the shoes fit?

Yep, that’s it. (And I know you glamazons out there know what I’m talking about!) This was never more evident than when I pulled all the shoes out. And began cringing. There were a lot of slides and mules. And I mean a lot. As anyone with big feet knows, this style is extremely forgiving as it allows a bit of ‘foot overhang’ without causing pain. (Of course, the aesthetic pain is another matter altogether) But as the saying goes, “today is the first day of the rest of your life”. Well, for my life with shoes anyway.

The power of PR

The power of publicity in mainstream media can be nothing short of amazing. Glamazon Shoes was fortunate enough to receive a plug in Melbourne’s main Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Herald-Sun back in June. The immediate effect on sales that week and the next few was incredible. Our email database, which was 5 months old at the time, doubled in subscribers within 2 weeks. Each day brought a steady stream of glamazons trooping through the shop door. Naturally the immediate impact lessened over the coming weeks but the real surprise has been that even now, four months later, there is still the occasional customer that comes into the shop and mentions that Herald-Sun article that brought her here. Often these women have clipped out the story and put it away to visit when they have the time. Irrefutable proof that women have long memories. As if we need it…

Wakey wakey and giddy up

Melbourne is finally beginning to stir after a long slumber. And I mean loooong slumber. I think almost all Melburnians agree that it’s been a particularly drawn out winter and by now, most of us are heartily sick of it. It’s not just the weather either. As gorgeous as winter fashion can be, there’s only so many months you can wear your collection of boots before you begin to itch for a sandal or more open shoe.

Of course at this time of year there’s more happening in Melbourne that just spring. The September to November period is when the city arguably comes into its own with the world famous Spring (horse) Racing Carnival. The Melbourne Cup in November may be the most well-known but there’s a slew of race days that are almost as big leading up to, and in the days after the Cup. Cox Plate, Derby Day, Caulfield Cup, Oaks Day, Emirates Stakes Day – and these are just the main events. The integral part of Spring Racing however, is the fashions. Everything from the shoes, frock, bag and headwear must be duly planned and of course none can be seen twice! At the shop we’ve had a taste of the days to come with women and girls coming in over the past weeks to try on headwear and shoes, and the clever ones snapping up their shoes and accessories early on. We’ve noticed that whilst most women are trying on the hats and fascinators, the younger glamazons are choosing elaborate hair clips and headbands which looks amazing on the younger set. Whichever is chosen, there’s no doubt that’s it’s a particularly glamorous time of year. Giddy up!

Glamazons of all ages

One thing I’ve noticed about customers and visitors to the shop is that they certainly are not of any particular age group. (Or gender, but that’s a topic for another blog entry) We’ve had customers into their 70s, and of every decade down to pre-teens. The youngest customer so far was around 11 years old and already needing a size 10 shoe. Happily she had a number of styles to choose from and left with a gorgeous (and more importantly, age-appropriate) pair of sparkly silver ballet flats.

That girls this young are already glamazons is not anything new to me. I have 3 daughters in primary school, all looking very likely to follow in their mother’s glamazon footsteps. My 10 year old is already sporting a size 8 (ladies) shoe size, the 9 year old a more modest size 4-5 and the 5 year old set to break all family records with her size 1s. In her black school shoes, I can’t help but conjure up images of Minnie Mouse – minus the ears. The girls (and boys) are definitely all getting taller. I may be one of the tallest mums at school pick-up but my girls are certainly not the tallest girls in their age groups, with a quite a few considerably taller. Could be something in the water or perhaps it’s that chicken theory again?

Whatever it is, this current generation of girls will be making the word ‘glamazon’ a part of everyday language.

Delicious dilemmas

The delicious dilemma of too much choice. Is there such a thing when working with shoes? Well, yes, there is when you’ve had very slim pickings up until recently. For most of us with a foot size over 10, we’ve had to learn to settle for shoes that we don’t love, but do fit and are kind of what we were looking for. I recently had a customer in looking for a formal shoe for an upcoming wedding. Size 11. She had driven over 40 km so I really felt the pressure to help her to find what she wanted. The happy news is that not only did she find a shoe she liked, but she found a few different styles. I cannot describe the pleasure of seeing the look on her face as she deliberated between her choices. Multiple shoes. Not just ‘should I get the plain boring one because it fits or leave without and hope I’ll find something before the event’.

Now that’s job satisfaction.

Work and passion

For the first time in my life, I truly, madly, deeply love what I do. (The only way I could love it more is to be able to draw a wage but hopefully that will come in time!). I can honestly say that working in this particular market supplying beautiful shoes for bigger feet is a real passion for me. Sure, there are tough days where I have to dig deep, particularly being self-employed as well as in the start-up phase. On the other hand, no matter what your job – corporate, self-employed, stay at home mum/dad, you’re going to have those days. What helps me to keep going? In addition to my belief in the Glamazon Shoes concept, my biggest thrill is connecting with the people that walk through the door, whether they buy or not. In fact, buying is almost secondary sometimes. To quote the Pantene ad, “it won’t happen overnight but it will happen”. In this day and age of self-service and shopping in vast, impersonal chain stores, providing a personalized service where you can get to talk to and know your customer can be a real throwback to the ‘good old days’. A customer may not buy that day but make the connection, understand what they want, and there’s a good chance that they’ll be back again. And again. And in the meantime, I have a great time connecting with many of them.

Special mention to some lovely customers all the way from Shepparton – Sarah & Melissa, in town to shop for Melissa’s bridesmaids’ shoes. Absolutely delightful trio (with mum in tow) who ended up with 3 pairs of the same shoe style in sizes 8.5, 11 and 13. Yes, it’s great to make sales from a retail and business perspective but this was eclipsed by the immense satisfaction of being able to fit all the girls, particularly those who upon entering the shop declared what an ordeal it was to shop for shoes as she rarely managed to find ones that fit (Hi Sarah!).

I'm back - and this time I'm staying!

Not a great way to return but let me begin by apologising for my absence over the last 2 months. It’s been a bit of a blur during this time. So much has been happening and yet if you asked me to give more detail, I almost wouldn’t know where to begin! Our shop has been open for almost 4 months and it’s been an amazing (I refuse to use the over-used word ‘journey’ a la every reality show!) experience. The response from our customers has been fantastic and there are already a number of familiar faces who have returned a number of times. One thing has really stood out for me though, and that’s the feedback from people in the shop and via email. Every bit of positive feedback just reinforces the premise behind Glamazon Shoes – and for that, thank you. And keep it coming! We love to hear from you.

Happy monthiversary

After all the lead up to preparing the shop, I cannot believe that it’s already been over 4 weeks that we’ve been open. I’m happy to report that the month has gone better than anticipated, which is fantastic. It is an indescribably good feeling to be able to fit fellow glamazons out there with stunning size 12 and 13 shoes. This goes double for women with larger calves who have snapped up a lot of our wide calf boots in stock. It’s so lovely to see their faces when they zip up a beautifully made leather boot (with NO elastic around the calf!) and pronounce that this is the first time they have ever been able to do this. In their lives. Call me shallow, but it’s a damn good feeling to provide a shoe shop where women can shop for shoes and boots and not feel out of the ordinary.

It has also been lovely to cater to the locals who up until now have not had a dedicated shoe shop in the shopping strip. This has also had the result of a bit of a re-think in our product offerings. Currently our smallest size is 8 but this will be moving down to a 6 by spring in order to encompass the local traffic, many of whom are 6s and 7s. I don’t think this compromises the Glamazon brand at all as we will always be true to our ‘beautiful shoes for bigger feet’ credo and have our sizes go up to at least a 13, and possibly higher if the demand is there. We will never let our glamazons down!

Two weeks later...

Glamazon Shoes has been open for 2 weeks and we're still here! Joking aside, the response in and to the shop has been heartening. I'm definitely working with 2 separate markets though. The first - and main - one is the bigger shoe market. The other is the local market which may or may not encompass women with larger feet. Interestingly, the approach towards both is markedly different. Locals are passing by (naturally) and thanks to our wonderful wide shopfront, popping in for a look at the shoes and bags on display. It's amazing to see women's finely tuned shoe radar kick in when they're in the vicinity of a shoe shop! We've had women going to/from the local gym or kids' school come in very quickly because often that's how we work. As great multi-taskers, we're able to take in a quick distraction and then either dismiss it or file away for future reference. Then there's others like a lovely customer today on her way to lunch, pop in for a look and walk out with a divine pair of high leather boots!

The other - and really, primary - market is the one for bigger feet. This requires a completely different marketing strategy as geography is not a major factor. The challenge becomes to spread the word to the larger footed woman or girl regardless of her location - local or interstate. This is where the internet comes into its own. For such a geographically diverse group, the primary communication channel is definitely via the Web.

Stay tuned...

Reverse discrimination

I had a thought just the other day. (Yes, it's been known to happen from time to time) The shop opened for the first time just a few days ago and even at this early stage, the response has been very encouraging. At this stage, the shoe range goes up to size 13 and down to an 8 as the main premise behind Glamazon is beautiful shoes for bigger feet. After years of feeling 'freakish' with my size 11s and basically avoiding the vast majority of the mainstream shoe shops, I wanted to create a place where bigger and/or taller women could feel normal. A place where they could ask for a size 10+ shoe with confidence and not in a murmur so as not to be overheard and have their feet gawked at by total strangers.

Well, it seems that the pendulum has now swung the other way. In my first few days of opening, I've already had to disappoint a few prospective customers by letting them know that our sizes start from an 8 and that we could not accommodate their size 6 or 7 feet at this stage.

It seems now that the shoe really is on the other foot and it feels very, very strange. I think I may have created an alternate reality!

We finally made it

To the opening that is.

It's hard to believe that our first day has come and gone. The shop is ready, looks great (if I do say so myself!) and has already had a couple of sales transactions. It just all feels kind of surreal. After months of planning, preparation and plain hard work, we have an actual shop. Not that the work is over by a long shot. In addition to hopefully doing lots and lots of sales, all the marketing and promoting of the business can now be ramped up.

And there I was ready for a nice rest on the lovely purple ottoman...

How to set up a shoe shop - in 753 easy steps

At least, that's what it feels like some days!! Recently a friend said something along the lines of '20% of the work comes from 80% of the items, and 80% of the work comes from the other 20%'. Or something along those lines. I was so focused on the 'big ticket' items like location (vitally important of course), arranging the lease, deciding on fit-out, finding suppliers etc. that I figured once I had these things ticked off my list, that it would almost be a breeze after that. But it's the myriad of 'smaller' tasks that threaten to overwhelm at times - decor, point of sale system, organising/storing stock, setting up a back room, pricing, ticketing, phone/internet lines, insurance, eftpos - the list goes on. And on. And on. And in the interests of getting the shop open this century and not have it turn out to be a very expensive pet project, I have now set a date which I HAVE to meet.

Wednesday 5th of May*. 2010. 10am.

Yep, that's it folks. The opening date. You'll know me. I'll be the one collapsed in a corner. But feel free to check out the fab shoes. Just do it quietly. :-)

* Apologies to those who saw the original date of Tuesday 4th May. Due to circumstances beyond my control I've had to push the date back one day.

The Glamazon 'pregnancy' continues...

This starting a shoe shop business is certainly proving to get pretty involved. And there I was thinking it was just about visiting a couple of shoe fairs, perhaps thumbing through some catalogues at my leisure whilst sipping a restorative glass of pinot noir. I plan to open end of April (although realistically it will probably be around 1st of May) and I'm STILL waiting on my floor to go in, shelving to be installed, bits and pieces of furniture and another 512 fit-outish things that need to go into the shop. Of course, this doesn't even include all the other exciting things like phone lines, insurance, boring, boring, boring but absolutely, vitally essential to running a proper business. Sigh. Might have to put down the glossy Glamazon shoe images every now and again to deal with the other realities.

Although it has to be said - when you're doing it for yourself, when it's your very own 'baby', it just doesn't seem as bad as having to do it for someone else. I guess in this way it's just like a real baby. :-)

Glamazon Shoes

Pumps, boots, slingbacks, d’orsay heels, sandals, wedges, stilettos, ballet flats, comfort shoes, thongs (or flip flops to you non-Aussies), suppliers, inland freight, designs, marketing, location location location, stock, marketing, websites blah blah blah. Some days are ‘shoe heaven’ (when I’m drooling over catalogues trying to decide which shoes I love and which ones I love more) and others are ‘shoe hell’ (when I can’t decide which ones to buy and stock!). Either way, I’m finally starting to realise the dream of a lifetime – opening my very own fashion shoe shop for women with BIGGER FEET. Hey, at the very least my daughters will have something to wear one day!