In order to keep with the times, we recently launched soulashoes.com to compliment our brick and mortar location here in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. You’ll always find way more merchandise in our shop than we have here just because it’s impossible to keep up, try though we do.
Now, at the risk of being all preachy, we want to explain that we’re not doing this so we can compete with major online retailers. We can’t. No small merchant can.
Why can’t we compete with a big on line store?
Rent in Brooklyn is insane.
We pay our staff real living wages.
We don't have the bargaining power with our suppliers that those guys do, so we can't offer refunds, just store credit, and can't undercut the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
So why shop in a store, or even on this site, when it’s cheaper on some other website?
Plain and simple:
If no one shopped in our many beloved local establishments Smith Street, and downtowns everywhere, would consist of lots of empty storefronts, UPS trucks clogging the streets bringing stuff right to your door so you'd never go out, and the few stores remaining would be banks, or national chains.
And, there are so many times when you really need a shoe store to be there for you, for example when:
That job interview you just landed is tomorrow and your shoes are a wreck.
The rain is incessant and your rain boots are m.i.a.
These shoes don’t go with this outfit, and the party is tonight!
Yikes! The kid’s school auction is coming up and I need to get a donation
My flight to Tulum leaves in two hours and where are my sandals?
It’s still snowing out and I’m sick of having cold feet.
Broken toe – ouch, need something soft and easy.
Tween feet grow fast
I guess my post-partum feet really are a size bigger
I need a place to hang out for 10 minutes that’s not an ATM
Oh, we could go on.
And we get it. Everyone likes to save a buck. But we think you’ll agree that saving the dollar here and there is not worth losing what we love about where we call home.
So, thank you, friends, neighbors and customers, for shopping here. And, in doing so, voting for home.