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Instead of trekking out to the malls to snag a pair of stylish shoes, women can now head to Mount Airy. That’s where they will find a new store aptly named Soles, A Shoe Experience.
Located at 6817 Germantown Ave., Soles has a distinctly boutique-like feel where shoppers can find an array of classy and affordable offerings that range from thong sandals, to stilettos to heels for the workplace.
The idea to launch a shoe boutique was conceived by Sheila Mitchell-Green, a Mount Airy resident, who was growing weary of shopping at cluttered warehouse-like locations that lacked personalized customer service.
“I couldn’t find anywhere to shop that was boutique-like,” said Soles CEO Mitchell-Green, who has a degree in business marketing.
So when she decided to venture into the footwear business, she went out of her way to create an environment that would appeal to her clientele.
With the tag line “shoes the bills can wait for,” the store offers a comfortable, yet upscale environment with its Tiffany-blue walls, shoe artwork and chocolate-brown furniture.
“We just really wanted a place that really catered to women,” Mitchell-Green said.
After researching various locations, Mitchell-Green and her husband/business partner Derek Green, who serves as president of East Mount Airy Neighbors, decided - their neighborhood would be the perfect location for the boutique.
Green noted that the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission had conducted a survey that found the Mount Airy community generates over $600 million in retail activity. He saw that residents indicated that they wanted to see more books, music and shoe stores in the community.
Mitchell-Green travels to quarterly shoe expos to keep the store stocked with its impressive mix of inventory that includes well-known brands such as Chinese Laundry, Moda, Carlos Santana and Steve Madden. The store has enabled her to transfer her fetish for buying shoes for her personal collection into purchasing them for the store.
“There’s nothing here that I personally would not wear,” Mitchell-Green said. But while she personally enjoys selecting the store’s stylish inventory, she enjoys interacting with her clientele the most. She’s able to weigh in and offer advice to women as they peruse the shelves in search of the perfect shoe.
“I like the whole people thing,” she said. “You’d be surprised how much they really need you to tell them what works for them.”
The business is representative of what a group of friends can do when they decided to work together. Instead of relying on bank financing, the Greens and their business partners, Marla Clark, Sonia Evelyn and Sammy Jones Jr. pooled their funds together to launch their venture.
“For us, we feel like we are really the story of friendship and entrepreneurship,” she said.
To give college students hands-on experience in learning about merchandising, Mitchell-Green employs students from area institutions such as Philadelphia University, Chestnut Hill College and Pennsylvania State University.
The store also offers what Mitchell-Green refers to as the private shopping experience, where groups such as sororities, book clubs and social organizations can have Soles to themselves. The groups are treated to wines and an assortment of hors d’oeurves as they shop.
The store has only been open for a month and is already being well received by the neighborhood. “The neighborhood is so embracing and we’re really happy about that,” Mitchell-Green said. “The Mount Airy neighborhood improves with each successful business that locates in the avenue.”
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