A Unique Beautiful Shoe Experience

Custom Shoes and a Unique Shoe Experience

A new show store that allows one to create their own designer shoes has opened in Bethesda Maryland. It is the first of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard.

Bethesda, DC, December 22, 2010 --(PR.com)-- A new concept in designer women’s shoes was launched this week by Bethesda native Nina Kimmel, making it the first of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard. My Shoe Cafe, a unique build-it-yourself custom design shoe store, opened this week in the Westfield Montgomery Mall, Bethesda, Maryland. Sporting the slogan, “Where sole mates are made…”, it provides a new and creative experience for woman looking for the ultimate in personalized shoes. My Shoe Cafe is a combination of Kimmel’s love of designer shoes and a passion she developed for cafes while traveling in Europe. “For me and so other women, shoes are not just something you wear on your feet, they are a statement and reflect ones personality,” said Kimmel. “In My Shoe Cafe you become your own personal shoe designer!”

Born and raised in Bethesda, 26-year-old Kimmel’s s love affair with shoes and fashion started with her strutting around in her mother’s shoes and clothes as a youngster but developed quickly when as early as 8 years old she had the opportunity to accompany her parents to the fashion centers of Milan, Paris, Madrid and London. Nina’s favorite activity when in these cities was to look at, try on and buy shoes.

At 16 Nina’s personal shoe collection had grown to 200 pairs. While on a summer vacation in Paris with her family that same year, Nina purchased clothes and a fun pair of heels on des Champs-Elysees and then decided to show them off as she hung out at a local cafe. She concluded at this point that fashion and cafes made a perfect fit.

My Shoe Cafe offers a broad array of colors, fabrics and shoe accessories for customers to select from when “building” their own customerized shoe. One of the unique elements of the store is a full time cobbler, with 20 years experience in the shoe-making and repair business. While customers relax and sip complimentary coffee, their personalized shoes—custom made to fit each foot—are created while they wait. An additional service allows customers to bring in their existing shoes and select and add My Shoe Cafe accessories to give their shoes a new and refreshing lift. My Shoe Cafe’s spacious premises are ideal for a “girls night out” or for birthday parties, bridal showers, bachelorette parties and similar fun shoe events.

MY THOUGHTS

i like this idea. nope.  that's not exactly correct.  i love this idea.  coffee and shoes.  shoes and coffee.  whichever way,love them both

dream come true for a young lady who lived for her shoes

Larger-than-life dream come true for a young lady who lived for her shoes
Mark Russell

December 26, 2010

PERHAPS it was written in the stars - after all, Mira Smoljko always wanted to own a shoe shop. But it was what was written in a letter to the editor that changed the course of the 43-year-old's life.

As Ms Smoljko was reading the letter, fate stepped in with her towering stilettos and gave the mother of three the lift she needed to reach for her dreams.  The result is a women's shoe shop that caters for all sizes, but specialises in shoes for women with larger feet.

Ms Smoljko first had the idea to open a specialty shoe store when she was 15 but did not have the confidence to pursue her dream until she read a letter in The Sunday Age on July 12 last year from Elizabeth, a Bendigo woman bemoaning the lack of stylish and affordable shoes for her size-12 feet (equivalent to a men's size 10).

Elizabeth told how she had ''endured a lifetime of ill-fitting, blister-causing, heel-splitting and bone-fracturing (yes, really!) torture in my failed search for the elusive size-12 dress shoe''.  It was time, Elizabeth said, for shoe companies and specialty stores to stop discriminating against women with big feet.

For Ms Smoljko, who is 180 centimetres tall - just two centimetres shy of six feet - and wears a size-11 shoe, it was her ''light-bulb'' moment.

She said Elizabeth's letter made her realise there were a lot of other women just like her, struggling to find fashionable shoes, so she put together a business plan and by May this year had set up Glamazon Shoes in Union Road, Ascot Vale.

Now Ms Smoljko wants to find Elizabeth so she can thank her and give her a pair of ''gorgeous'' size-12 shoes.

''I still have Elizabeth's letter and it's pinned up in the back of the shop as a reminder of how it all began, and that signs are everywhere if you keep your eyes open,'' she said. ''I'm indebted to her.

''It was a turning point in my life.

''If it wasn't for her letter, I would never have had the courage to follow my dream.  ''I was thinking if I don't do something now, I'm going to hate myself forever.''  The shop, which carries sizes six to 13, will stock sizes 14 and 15 from early next year.

It already has attracted a devoted and grateful clientele. Ms Smoljko said some customers were so appreciative they hugged her.  Teenage girls with big feet had become regulars.

''Adolescence is so difficult … because you just want to be like everyone else. But if you're standing at five foot nine (175 centimetres), five foot 10, and you've got a size 11, 12 or 13 foot, it's doubly hideous because you really stand out.

''All you want to do is wear what your friends are wearing and fit in with the crowd and you just don't have that option.

''It's really satisfying to be able to help them.''

Some of her best customers, however, are cross-dressing men and transvestites who tend to require a larger size in women's shoes. ''They love it,'' she said.

And the next step? Ms Smoljko hopes to open a chain of stores across Melbourne.

MY THOUGHTS

sometimes, all it takes is a little nudge to get us going. or not. i wish i can find the courage to start something i've been thinking about for years. just one step. then another...