Shoe shop entrepreneur and champion of the sole trader

Holly Breen trained an architectural technologist but shoes are her real passion. In 2009 she opened Walk shoes in Cork and is about to achieve her dream of having her own range of footwear.

What is special about your business? We love colour, especially reds and purples, so, as shoe shops go, we stock less of the traditional blacks and browns. We also like niche and quirky. You're not going to find regular high street brands or styles in Walk. Our mission is to celebrate traditional leather manufacturing processes and designs. We also support imaginative brands and makers that are environmentally conscious.

What sets your business apart in your sector? Our philosophy is one of functionality, quality and simplicity. We like shoes that look good but are comfortable and environmentally friendly – for example, rubber soles made from recycled materials, and plant dyes used on responsibly produced leather.

I’ve travelled a lot and seen some of the factories where fashion shoes are mass-produced. It is not a respectful way to treat people or the environment. As a consequence, we lean towards niche brands that share our philosophy of sustainability and care.

We have about 20 brands at this stage, many of them unique to Walk. Our brands include Arche, A.S.98, Trippen, El Naturalista and the Art Company.

What has been your biggest challenge? We opened our doors six years ago in the depths of the recession. Just surviving and growing have been the major challenges as well as cracking the ecommerce market. We also had a rethink of our customer base and decided to concentrate specifically on women's shoes (we had been doing gents and children as well) when it became clear that this was where the greatest potential lay.

What has been your biggest success? We have grown by 20 per cent every year since we opened despite all the financial doom and gloom. We have a great little niche product and a strong, almost tribal customer base. Our sweet spot is women in their mid-40s and by investing in point-of-sale technology we were able to track the trends and tastes among this group. Once we had this knowledge we could use it to focus our buying more effectively.

What piece of advice would you give to someone starting a business? Spend as little as possible on your start-up costs. Get a good accountant and keep on top of your finances. In fact, micromanage your money so you know exactly where you stand day to day.

Who do you admire most in business and why? Jodie Fox, founder of Shoes of Prey. She is fiercely determined and has brains to burn. Jodie has created a multimillion dollar company in her 20s. Also Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post. She started her news site in 2005 and quickly became one of the leaders in online media. She is an impressive, influential lady with true vision.

What two things could the Government do to help SMEs? Reduce the standard rate of VAT to 21 per cent and appoint someone at government level with specific responsibility for the retail sector. The tourism and manufacturing sectors have champions. We too need a strong voice.

In your experience are banks lending? Yes. We were able to get stock loans when we opened and our bank has been very supportive. They know we're very focused on our finances and we keep them in the loop. We have never given them any nasty surprises.

What's the biggest mistake you've made in business? Overbuying stock when we were starting out and it was a costly mistake. Determined not to make the same mistake again, I went on an intensive buying course at the London College of Fashion.

What is the most frustrating part of running a small business? People think that being a small business owner is glamorous – you get to make big decisions, make lots of money and have a great lifestyle. The reality is that you have to wear many hats – strategic visionary, frontline sales person and amateur psychologist, all while struggling with perpetual deadlines.

I think small business is often considered an irritant by those in authority when compared to larger companies that give more bang for their buck. As a result, decisions get made in favour of out-of-town shopping centres rather supporting small traders in the city centre.

What's your business worth and would you sell it? Right now we are working towards completing an operations blueprint for the business with a view to possibly making Walk a franchise. We are also in the final stages of tying down a manufacturer to make a range of own brand shoes.

Hopefully our customers will love them as they are going to be that little bit different. This is probably not what people might expect a small Irish company to be doing, but we’re quite ambitious and it’s not as daunting for us as it might be for others.

I draw pretty well, have no shortage of ideas tumbling around in my head, and with my background in architectural technology I have been able to prepare my own designs and specifications to a professional standard.

In conversation with Olive Keogh