SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
If you've been through the Centre Square Mall recently, you may have noticed a new shoe store has opened near the 50 Street entrance.

Livingson Mtomgwiza opened Elegance Shoes with his wife Lily a couple of weeks ago in the Centre Square mall in Yellowknife. They've been using the first weeks to take stock of what Yellowknifers are looking for in footwear, and hope to expand before the end of the summer. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

There's no storefront sign up yet, but Elegance Shoes is hard to miss. It's the only shoe store in the mall, and the only dedicated shoe store in Yellowknife.

For the past week, Lily and Livingson Mtomgwiza has been using their relatively small storefront to survey potential customers for what they're looking for in a shoe store.

"During the first week we were in here doing surveys and talking to people about the brands, styles and prices they want to see in Yellowknife," Lilly said.

"We didn't want to tell Yellowknifers what they ought to buy," Lovingson said of their business approach.

With more than 300 two-page surveys in hand, the couple continues to add to their inventory of shoes, which already cannot fit into their available space.

"We have a lot of stock," Lovingson said. "We're putting out new things everyday. It's a matter of finding out what people want to see."

They also have a Facebook page where customers can let the couple know what they're looking for.

"We're in a learning phase for the next two or three months," Lovingson said. "We want to know what Yellowknifer's want to see in a shoe store."

And he wants you to think about what you put on your feet every morning, something, he says, we can become too complacent about.

"Shoes are not only about design, they are an expression of your body language," Lovingson said. "You're next step is dictated by the shoes you wear."

Lovingson said they plan to move Elegance into the larger vacant shop that shares a corner with Mainstreet Donair and Deli.

Lily and Lovingson have been in Yellowknife for four years. Lily, from the East Coast and Lovingson from Zimbabwe.

It is Lily's first business venture, but Lovingson is a shareholder in Yellowknife's Aurora Taxi company.

"The mall has been very good to us," Livingson said. "And the community is supportive."

Lovingson said the store will also have a focus on specialty orthopedic shoes and a wide selection of children and youth styles.

Customer feedback and shoe style requests are still invited, either by dropping by their store, or by visiting the Facebook page, which you should be able to find by typing "Elegance Yellowknife" into your search bar.

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