One person’s “never in a million years” is another person’s “this is the opportunity for me.” The twist on the old proverb about trash and treasure applied to Peter Mohr’s purchase of Shoetopia Footwear Outlet.
Peter understands businesses; before joining Sunbelt, he had owned two of them. In Shoetopia, he saw an opportunity. Even though he hadn’t been involved in the shoe business, his experience was very transferrable.
As a certified intermediary with Sunbelt Business Brokers in Ottawa, Peter had showed a client the possibility for owning a shoe store in Fergus, 18 kilometres north of Guelph. While the client didn’t want to move, Peter and his family were ready for just such a lifestyle change. In addition, Peter himself was ready to create value in a business.
Carrying family footwear and leather accessories, the family footwear store was well placed in a strip plaza in Fergus, Ontario. While showing signs of underperformance, Shoetopia was a good business with a good location. Peter knew he could overcome the challenges he saw.
The first thing he did was install a point-of-sales inventory system. In April 2011 when we first interviewed Peter for his success story, he had completed the modernization process. Previously, all the store had were cash registers and manual counting.
The next thing he did was to raise the quality of the product lines with a greater emphasis on fit and comfort. This change in marketing strategy was designed to meet competition from the arrival of Walmart and then of Target.
Peter also brought new life to Shoetopia’s marketing efforts. While he maintained the store’s radio presence in the community, he also expanded his use of special events to drive sales. He also uses Facebook and Google, allowing Shoetopia to benefit from the power of social media. The store’s website at shoetopia.ca now has full online shopping capability.
Shoetopia has become a more prosperous business, even in the face of competition from larger competitors and from uncertain weather, which affects the sales of shoes.
In fact, Peter has been so encouraged by his experience that he’s buying another shoe store, Lashbrook’s Shoes in Waterloo. Featuring quality, fashionable shoes, Lashbrook’s also presents challenges of underperformance that Peter feels confident he can manage and turn around.
Peter has a few tips to pass on to new buyers of business. First, use a professional business broker like Sunbelt to find the right business. Second, particularly if you buy a business in the retail or similar sector, be prepared for long and varied hours of work. And third, make sure you have good staff to back you up.
Peter believes in the unique role that Sunbelt plays in the buying and selling of business properties. “As a network of professionals, Sunbelt can help buyers look for substantial, better quality businesses.”
Peter appreciates that Sunbelt brokers have a better understanding of the value of a business. They can professionally assess factors such as inventory, revenues, and the value of physical assets.
According to Peter, what makes Sunbelt unique as a business broker is that “it exposes buyers to other similar businesses in the region.” By looking at comparable businesses, Sunbelt makes it easier for buyers to make the right decision about an investment that’s going to change their personal and financial lives.
Sunbelt Canada update 