Mario Stevenson's new shoe store in downtown Muskegon sells just one kind of footwear: the kind that sells for $20 or less.
Stevenson is counting on that price point to generate a lot of foot traffic from the city's growing population of downtown dwellers and workers.
LaBrae's Shoes, 1144 Third St., offers a variety of shoes, boots and sandals for men, women and children. And Stevenson says it fills a need for a bargain shoe store close to where people work and live, so they don't have to drive to purchase products they use for walking.
"What's unique is the type of store it is for downtown," Stevenson says. "Most stores like this are a few miles out (of town)."
Before venturing into business ownership, Stevenson managed a mall shoe store, Tradehome Shoes. But he says he was tired of making money for someone else and wanted to become his own boss.
"I'm from this area, and I thought [downtown] would be a great place for my store," he says.
LaBrae's is located in the 600-square-foot former auto showroom of Betten Body Shop. Stevenson is taking it step-by-step when it comes to developing the store's atmosphere.
"It needs a renovation, but I'm going with it as-is," he says. He plans to make some changes to the store's interior in the future.
"You've got to crawl before you can walk," he says about his approach to starting his business.
Stevenson says the response from the community has been excellent. He hasn't spent money on advertising yet, so he's relying on word-of-mouth recommendations. His initial customers were from the nearby neighborhood, he says, but it's attracting customers from further away as word of the new shoe store spreads.
Source: Mario Stevenson, LeBrae's Shoes.
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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