Making strides

Lori Andre remembers slipping into her mother's big yellow high heal shoes and clunking around the house when she was a little girl.

An energetic Andre has always been infatuated with shoes. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, she decided to turn her shoe passion into reality.

Taking the cue from her entrepreneurial parents, she launched Lori's Designer Shoes in a little storefront on Armitage Avenue in Chicago. She started with about 800 pairs of shoes. Today, the expanded Lincoln Park store features about 10,000 pairs as well as handbags and accessories.

A varied price range is important to Andre so she is able to serve women of all ages and backgrounds. She said her shoppers will find everything from $12 flip-flops to $850 Italian boots.

Over the past 24 years she has made strides, adding stores in Highland Park and Northfield. Andre began franchising three years ago, adding another four stores.

"I had an entrepreneurial spirit. I knew this is what I wanted," said Andre, who grew up on the North Shore where her father owned an advertising company and her mom ran an Athlete's Foot store.

Andre, 49, and her stores have gained a reputation in featuring what is hot and the up and coming shoe styles. She travels to Italy twice a year to buy direct and see the styles in Europe.

"Lori has a fantastic eye for picking out the new fashion trends. She's able to mesh the American and European styles so well," said Evelyn Schwall, who worked for Andre for 10 years and then launched the first franchise location in Naperville.

Schwall, 27, opened another shop in Hinsdale five months ago.

Schwall said her boss has been a wonderful teacher. "She's my mentor in every way," Schwall said.

All the stores are fashion oriented and carry about 80 percent of the shoes Andre selects. The franchise owners make the other selections based on the demographics and trends in their particular areas. Kelly McCormick and Beth Sussman own the Lincolnshire and new Deer Park stores.

The stores are easy to navigate, highlighting a help-yourself style in which the shoe boxes are on the floor for easy accessibility.

Andre, who resides in Northfield where she and her husband have raised three sons, said, "We consider ourselves a retail phenomenon. We've withstood the test of time."

Where to find Lori's Designer Shoes

• Deer Park, 20530 N. Rand Road, Deer Park Town Center

• Highland Park, 585 Central Ave.

• Hinsdale, 5 E. First St.

• Lincoln Park, 824 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago

• Lincolnshire, 275 Parkway Drive, No. 613

• Naperville, 27 W. Jefferson

• Northfield, 311 Happ Road

The sole of the business

Here are tips from entrepreneur Lori Andre.

• "You have to be married to the business. You have to eat it, breathe it and sleep it."

• "You can't fall asleep at the wheel. It's important to keep up with the latest trends."

• "Make sure you have a lot of money in the bank to stay afloat during the slow times."