STRAP
Footwear Retailer of the month Q&A:
Cheryl Taylor talks to Rosi Greenall of Junior Choice, Rushden, Northamptonshire
Name: Rosi Greenall Shop: Junior Choice Home town: Kettering, Northamptonshire.
Brands: Start-rite, Clarks, Garvalin, Primigi, Ricosta, Geox, LelliKelly. Bobux
Family: Married with one son, 18 years old.
How did you get into footwear? Tell us about your background and your current business? Born in Cologne, Germany, I worked for many years in children's fashion
and related roles, including branch manager for Prenatal, which was the equivalent to Mothercare in Germany. They used to have 45 shops all over Germany. Like I said, I started as branch manager, but was later travelling to do presentations of fashion, including shoes, and got involved in staff training as well. I became a buyer for fashion and shoes for the age group 1 to 6 years, travelling extensively to suppliers in the Far East, to co-ordinate quality and design requirements, a role which I later undertook for various other companies. I love people and fashion, so when the time came, eight years ago, I bought a children's shoe shop.
32 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JANUARY 2014
Where is your shop located and how many people do you employ? Do you have a high turnover of staff? Tell us about your shop(s), the local area, your customers and their requirements? Our shop is in Rushden, Northamptonshire and we employ a full time Shop Manageress, and two part time staff, whilst I work full time in the shop, as well as purchasing and controlling all stock. We do not really have a high turnover of staff. When we took over the shop 8 years ago, our present Manageress was already on the staff. However, the problem with children's shoes is the high level of fluctuation in demand, based on school holidays and ' Back to School '. This means that you must use additional casual staff at those times. Fortunately, we have several ladies who have worked with us in the past, who have left to have a family, but who are happy to come in for a few days when required. Rushden suffers like every other town centre at the moment, but our customers are loyal because they know the wide range of shoes and our service is good, not to forget the free long stay parking areas all around our shop.
Do you have an online shop/website and do you use social networking for business? We intentionally emphasize our personal service and hands on approach, using only skilled and trained shoe fitters. We have a website, but it is used mainly for day to day enquiries (opening times etc.). We do not sell online, because that is contrary to the ethos of 'skilled shoe fitter knows best', which is what we try to project.
How are you finding the footwear market currently? During the recession the market has been very tough and is definitely being hit by online sales. Cheap quality products from the supermarkets do not help either, but fortunately there are enough discerning customers who
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