New Shop On the Block: Leo Footwear

Hey, St. Paul—there’s a new shoe shop in town. Leo Footwear, cofounded by business proprietors and near buddies Jill Erickson (of Spoils of Have on) and Kristie Situation (Teeny Bee Boutique and Peregrine Kidswear) opens Friday in the Selby and Snelling neighborhood.

“We would go to market place alongside one another pre-COVID, and we’d glimpse at footwear alongside one another. But there is not a massive location for most footwear in our shops,” Erickson suggests. “We have been thinking, gosh, we wish there was somewhere in our neighborhood to invest in footwear.”

In January, a area just down the block from each of their shops opened up, and the dynamic duo built the leap.

“It’s whole of footwear that make us pleased,” Erickson suggests of the shop. “It’s been a overall pleasure to invest in for. It is entertaining to bring an additional good quality and aesthetic into the neighborhood.”

Choices consist of tiny-batch sandals built in Greece, handmade leather-based-and-wood mules, artisan-crafted oxford booties, and more—plus a variety of accessories, like sunglasses, socks, and assertion shoelaces.

“We required to stock at ease footwear that are inspiring—shoes you’d construct an outfit all around,” suggests Situation.

The store’s glam vibe hits the inspiration observe, too—a wall of antique mirrors is positive to be St. Paul’s new selfie place, and classic theater seats from the Orpheum include a touch of character to the normally light-and-dazzling area. And although Situation and Erickson already have ecommerce up and running, they hope people largely shop their selections in-store.

“We’re on the lookout for the antidote to on line shopping,” Situation suggests. “We’re on the lookout to produce some thing exactly where you could appear in and see a pair of footwear you have under no circumstances witnessed ahead of, that you couldn’t locate on Amazon or Macy’s—that you would not even know to glimpse for.”

If anybody is up to the job of curating a totally unique—but still accessible—selection, it is these business besties, who are aspect of the Selby and Snelling sisterhood we profiled pre-pandemic. The Leos (of study course they’re each Leos born just eleven days apart) achieved all around a 10 years in the past, doing the job at Evereve (back when it was known as Incredibly hot Mama). “Kristie taught me how to products,” Erickson suggests. “When she opened Teeny Bee [eight years in the past], I was her initial staff.”

They constantly considered just about every other their unofficial business partner—so it was only a subject of time it turned formal. Hey, if the shoe fits—buy a ton of footwear, right?

1554 Selby Ave., St. Paul, leofootwearstpaul.com. For updates and several hours, adhere to @leofootwearstpaul on Instagram.