Footwear Retailer of the month


Cheryl Taylor, Editor, talks to children’s footwear retailer Anna Swift of Cooshoo, winner of the National Shop Front Of The Year Award 2015.


Q&A:


Name: Anna Swift Shop: Cooshoo


Brands: GEOX, Ricosta, Petasil, Garvalin, Agatha Ruix De Prada, Bio-mechanics, Primigi, Bobux, Livie and Luca, Melton


Home town: Birmingham


Family: Family run business with husband Mick Swift. We have two daughters Nuala (9) and Doris (6)


24 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • MAY 2015


How did you get into footwear? Tell us about your background and your current business? We have two young children and wanted to buy shoes that were fitted and good quality but also well designed. We were really frustrated with the lack of choice available in and around Birmingham and wanted something with a bit more imagination and not too gender specific in terms of colour. We realised there was a gap in the market locally and after many hours of


talking and visits to MODA to do research, we decide to take the plunge last year and fill it! We opened our lovely shop on York Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, last Easter and the number of customers who are discovering that there is something different from the usual pink and blue shoes is steadily growing! We’re also working hard to forge good relationships with many of the


local schools as we see this as a key area of the business and we think we can provide a very specialist service particularly for the private schools in the area. My back ground is in children’s Public Health so I understand the value of


providing good quality fitted shoes to support and protect growing feet and help prevent problems later in life. Building relationships with local health professionals including a children’s physiotherapist and podiatrists has been mutually beneficial as we can provide a referral and in-store service for families with concerns about development and posture and we get referrals into the store from these sources too.


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