Starting a Business Selling Shoes

There are many distributors to get the shoes wholesale or she could contact the manufacturer with her proposal. However, I would exercise great caution because some of these "distributors" will rip her off. My husband was ripped off when he had a store. Luckily it was only a couple hundred though it could have been thousands.

Never fall for those websites that state they sell name brand shoes at really discounted prices and the shoes come from China. A lot of them are counterfeit items and she could really get into trouble.

I forgot, there are conventions for wholesalers that she could visit. I think they are usually in Vegas but sometimes in Chicago and California. She could try talking to another small shoe store owner. A chain store manager may not have any info for this.

go to the nike, reebok or whatever shoe brand she wants and contact them about what they require. I checked into it not to long ago and like newbalance and rebock wont let her sell on ebay. you have to have a brick and morter store with a minimum purchase and they do a credit check on you. they give you all the details from that specific manufacterer what they require. Hope this helps

One thought is to check into whether there are any shoe store franchises out there. This might be an easy route to go because the infrastructure and marketing support is already in place.

I sold shoes in college and remember there was a shoe industry magazine (although it's been about 20 years so I don't recall the name). She might also look into industry associations as a starting point for information, as well.