For fourteen years, the Pakar Zapaterías de México store at 5510
Bellaire Blvd. has had the distinction of being the only store operated in the United States by the giant Mexico City-based shoe seller.
Manager Cindy Vergara, sales rep Marisabel Mendoza, asst. manager David Piña.
The 50-year-old company has stores in 19 states in Mexico and is
the country’s leader in the sales of footwear, clothing and accessories.
Customers at the Gulfton store in the Gulfton Management District can choose from some of the leading casual, high fashion and children’s brands made in Mexico, including Pirma, Dogi, Yuyin, MoraMora and Flexi.
In addition, customers are eligible to join a plan that allows them to profit as well as spend. For an annual $20 fee, a customer receives a 25 percent discount on purchases, including some of which they are encouraged to sell to relatives and friends at a profit.
“This is a way that a family can make extra money,” said Cindy
Vergara, Gulfton store manager. “People come in
and we explain the re-sell memberships to them and they are
surprised. They say, ‘Wow, I want to tell my family, my friends and
my church members.’ “
About 14,000 customers have taken advantage of the store’s membership plan, which also offers cash bonuses for high monthly sales, Vergara said.
In addition to the walk-in customers at the bright, spacious Gulfton
location, which showcases about 1,000 pairs of shoes, the store sells merchandise thanks to a strong marketing presence online through its website and Facebook page.
Pakar Mexico shoes are also sold through SHIEN, a giant global fashion e-commerce business. Vergara said the Gulfton store has its own big online customer base in Texas, California and Illinois. Gulfton customers can also purchase shoes at the store for delivery to other consumers in Mexico.
Vergara is a native of Colombia who moved to Houston 20 years ago with her husband, a graphics designer who worked at Spanish-language newspapers here. In addition to retail sales, her background includes banking and personnel relations.
She said that in addition to the wide choice of casual, formal
and artisanal shoe styles offered at the store, Mexican-made shoes also are attractive to some of their Central and South American customers because they are made in smaller sizes not always available at shoe stores in the U.S.
This applies to high fashion brands as well as casual styles and
children’s shoes.
“Some people have a hard time finding shoes in their sizes,” Vergara said. “High-healed shoes, for example, are not made in sizes small enough for some of our customers. We also have customers who are from Africa looking for smaller size shoes.
These customers prefer the Mexican shoes.
Vergara points out that all the shoes sold by Pakar Mexico are
subject to strict U.S. manufacturing standards, including
the requirement that they be made from lead-free materials.
Children’s shoes also meet safety standards such as limitations on the number of attached shoe ornamentations that could pose a hazard to the wearer.
Mexican immigrants in Gulfton are attracted by the name on the
store while others find it by word-of-mouth and online, Vergara said.
Pakar Mexico sells more than 6,000 different footware items, clothing and accessories.
The shoes and the leather materials for their products are made by companies in León in the state of Guanajuato, a major center for shoe manufacturers.
Vergara says the store changes its inventory every six months to keep in step with changing seasonal styles.
With the profit-making option, Vergara said, “If you need extra money, this is the way to do it.”
— By Phil Shook
