Emma's Big Step
Above: Emma Stanworth at the shop
Above: A selection of shoes
THERE aren’t many people running village shoe shops who jet off to Milan to check the latest designs coming off the catwalks. But Poshu isn’t your ordinary shoe shop.
And Emma Stanworth isn’t your ordinary shopkeeper. Her youthful looks mask the fact that she was a high flier in the high pressure world of industry before opening her Whalley business almost two years ago.
It was quite a change from the testosterone-fuelled world of aerospace production where, as a human resources chief, she regularly found herself pitched into the rough and tumble of union-management relations.
Her career had an upward trajectory from the day she arrived at Michelin Tyres as a YTS kid from Burnley to the moment she walked away from Smiths Industries where she looked after more than 600 workers.
When she announced she was quitting to open a shoe shop, colleagues thought she had flipped and her family, although supportive, were clearly concerned.
They needn’t have been. Emma, still only 34, is a woman who likes a challenge and when it comes to retailing she has proved herself to be as just smart as the exclusive Marc Jacobs shoes she sells.
‘It was a big step to take,’ says Emma, who lives in Whalley with her partner. ‘It was a very male-dominated environment and going in to tell them I was giving up all I had worked for to
open a shoe shop was quite difficult.
‘But I needed a new challenge. The business was heavily unionised and that meant you couldn’t always do what you wanted. I felt my creativity was being restricted. Now, I have no boundaries.’
But it wasn’t a totally confident start for Emma. She more or less stumbled over the shop - it wasn’t the result of high-level planning and a sweep of available premises. ‘But I quickly realised Whalley was the ideal location.’
She knew there was a niche in the market for an independent shop selling only top-of-the-range shoes and bags. But unlike most retailers who are plagued by manufacturers wanting them to sell their goods, Emma had to sell her concept to the manufacturers.
‘I was pretty naïve and I knew nothing about retailing. My first trip to Milan was quite nerve-wracking. I had to do presentations to the top designers so they would allow me to sell their shoes.’
In two years it has become a thriving business, with a list of celebrity customers such as Jodie Marsh, and a growing internet service. The shoes she sells will make most women swoon from excitement and husbands faint from the price. But then, it is called Poshu.
Stock ranges from Lulu Guinness, which start at around £150, to Marc Jacobs shoes at an eye-watering £400. Emma, who loves her comfortable Paul Smith pumps, believes it’s a business which has been fuelled by popular culture such as Sex in the City.
And she hasn’t been immune. Emma had always been passionate about handbags and shoes. When you ask her how many pairs she has, she says she hasn’t counted them. Perhaps, that’s because there are too many. She will confess to having a cupboard full, ‘and, oh yes, there are some I keep in carrier bags…’