Introducing VIA UNO Curaçao

5 reasons why you should buy your shoes at VIA UNO
An interview with the Owner. Meet Janio Coco.

I made an appointment with Janio, since I was interested to know what drives him and why he had chosen to start a business in the women shoe industry.
The shop is very cosy and Janio makes you feel at home in a few seconds. As I understand he styles his own store. I waited for him a few minutes and watched him attend his customers. All with attention and dedication.

Afterwards all eyes were on me.

Janio explained that he started in the whole sale business of men clothing and went afterwards to work at Benetton which is a women’s retail clothing store. He stayed there for over ten years and then he felt that he had seen enough and was looking for his next challenge. His next endeavor was the shoe industry. When I asked him why the shoe industry, he told me that he wanted to start with something completely new where he felt that he can learn and start from scratch.
With the little experience he had in the shoe business and the contacts he made during his time in the retail industry, he went to Brazil to visit the VIA UNO whole sale shoe company.
He was looking for feminine shoes and found them there. Janio did extensive research to see if Curacao needed a shoe store. In 2010 he started looking for the possibilities to open the shoe store VIA UNO and started the business. It wasn’t all easy in the beginning, everything was going well up until the head office got into financial trouble. The logistics to export the shoes to Curacao was not as it was before either. Due to this challenge he found himself choosing for other distributors for his store. VIAUNO’s target was at the beginning different and he had to adjust it to suit clients with an interest in European style shoes.

That’s when he turned his eyes to Europe and was looking for different brands of shoes to serve a different target group.

Why is he selling women shoes? The behavior of women is different and they have other necessity according to Janio. Women shop for shoes more often and are always looking for something different. Janio wishes to focus on shoes that are luxurious, fashionable and affordable.

How does he choose his collection of shoes? He looks at women shoes and women feet all the time and tries to find in the shoes all a women would need.His inspiration comes from the shoe wearing ladies in Curacao.

From my personal point of view VIA UNO has a variety of shoes such as ballerina flats, working shoes, sandals, sexy glittery party shoes and more. I loved the style of the Hogl brands and I loved the sandals.

VIA UNO in Curacao focuses on ladies from 25 to 45 year of age, who likes being feminine and like European style shoes. The prices of the shoes vary between ANG180 to ANG500, depending on the fabric. Obviously full leather shoes tend to be a tiny bit more expensive than a partially leather made shoes .The brands that are available in the store are Hogl, Tamaris, Caprice, Marco Tozzi, just to mention a few.

WHY SHOP AT VIA UNO? My personal opinion is very simple:

1. the only shoe store where they are interested in your feet since they help you putting your shoes on.
2. the only shoe store where even if in you are in a hurry, you will take time to decide on buying the right shoe.
3. the only shoe store where they will welcome you with a drink while you check out the collection of shoes.
4. the only shoe store where they will show real interest in your purchase and if something happens with your shoe, they will make an effort to solve whatever problem you might have.
5. the only shoe store with great seasonal discounts.