Profile - Daniel Buck: Going feet first has reaped the rewards for shoe entrepreneur

A YEAR after Daniel Buck opened his first shoe shop, he decided to spend a lot of money buying some very expensive, very high boots from a shoe fair.

His father, who launched the Moda in Pelle footwear chain, questioned his son's wisdom, warned that no-one would buy them and told him that he would go bust. Instead, said Mr Buck, the fledgling business had its best-ever week.

"From there we just started building brands," said Mr Buck, who claims to be the first UK stockist of upmarket shoemaker Jimmy Choo and once held the distinction of being the sole supplier of Prada and Gucci in Leeds.

Today, the 42-year-old entrepreneur presides over a business on course for a turnover of 17m this year with a portfolio of 30 stores across the country, mostly under the Daniel Footwear name.

It has been a story of steady growth for Mr Buck, who opened his first store selling mostly ladies' shoes in 1993, in a small shop in Oakwood, with some savings, some money from his father Joe and some backing from the bank.

He had five years of experience in retail, having joined Next as a teenage sales assistant and then working around the UK at different stores as part of the group's management training programme.

He'd also spent a year working with his brother, Stephen, who runs Moda in Pelle.

"If you can sell, you can sell," said Mr Buck, dressed in jeans and a crisp white shirt for our interview, which took place at his company's head office on the outskirts of central Leeds.

"You learn the product. You learn to understand the product. With a company like Next, you know the location is good so as long as you know about the products and the staff are okay the shop is going to do well."

In that first year of trading, his company had sales of 74,000 and returned a profit of 200. "Four years ago we took more in one day than we took in the whole first year," said Mr Buck. "It just grew slowly. I have never pushed it. I have just tried to move along at a very steady pace, taking a few risks, but not major risks. It's always nice to have a bit of property, so I buy a little bit of property here and there, but not masses because I'm a retailer; that's what I understand. I have built up a very good team around me, which does make life a lot easier." He has made three acquisitions, most recently buying Rojo Shoes, which has two stores in London and a third in Belfast, in a deal worth 370,000, funded by "supportive" Barclays. Last month's acquisition gives the company nationwide reach.

The company has shops in good secondary locations, said Mr Buck, rather than in city centres with expensive rents.

Daniel Footwear sells brands such as Prada, D&G, DKNY, Dior, Juicy Couture and Ugg, maker of the much-imitated and massively popular fur-lined boot. The company also sells under the Daniel label, which equates to half its business.

Mr Buck said: "Daniel as a whole will buy a lot of its shoes from the same factories that make for Dolce & Gabana, Jimmy Choo, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada, all in Italy, and we put our label inside the shoes."

In all, the business sells around 250,000 pairs of shoes a year, said Mr Buck. His most popular brand is Ugg. "It's massive," he said. "It's something that's saved a lot of companies' skin. Three or four years ago it was a big on-trend business, now it's a core, stable business. It's been fantastic for us."

He and his team of buyers choose shoes from factories, shoe fairs and shows across Europe. He goes on up to 30 trips a year, looking for quality and style.

"Most of the high street is now geared by price," he said. "You go to all these companies and the stuff is all mass produced in China, as cheap as they can get it. We will do a shoe and it might be handmade in Italy and cost me 100. Margins are much bigger at cheaper companies."

Mr Buck offered a revealing insight into dealing with some of the big fashion houses. "They are very focused. There is no leniency. They appear to have no interest in the money. They care about the pairs. They want to increase every single year. They have very strict guidelines. All these companies have grown massively."

Given the frequency of European travel, it would probably be easier to run a fashion business from London, he said, but the lure of his home city is too strong.

"I have been brought up in Leeds. I went to Leeds Grammar School. Most of my friends and family are from Leeds," he said.

Mr Buck is married and is the proud father of two boys, the oldest of whom is beginning to show an interest in the shoe business, like his father and grandfather before him.

"My eight-year-old loves to look at the figures on a Saturday night, but not at the money. He will judge everything on how many shoes we have sold in a particular shop. Pairs of shoes for him are what's important."

There might be some parallels with his own upbringing. "My father set up a shoe factory in Leeds in the 1950s," said Mr Buck. "His biggest customer went bust, he ended up buying the shops and turned that into Moda in Pelle. My brother bought that off him and that's been in the family ever since. So all I've really known are shoes."

As a retailer, he is concerned about the impact of the rise in VAT. "It's going to hit people badly," he said. "It's going to cost us. I don't think any company can swallow it because it's too much money. The customers don't want prices to go up.

"Our best-selling court shoe last year was 100. Our best-selling court shoe ten years ago was 100 and it's still from the same factory so we are having to negotiate with the factory again and again and our margins are getting smaller and smaller so we can still get under that price point.

"It's a huge, huge problem. The National Insurance rise is going to be massive. It all adds up. What we pay in tax is crazy." Although the retail environment is very tough, Mr Buck said his business has had a good couple of years. "We have bought right, our shops are in the right locations, we have got some exceptional staff and we have built up quite a nice name."

Despite this, he said: "I think this year is going to be the toughest year my company has ever had and we will pull in our reins and try to make things tighter and a lot more secure. We are very cautious."

While the high street remains a challenging place to operate, the company's online, next-day delivery business is growing very quickly – with year-on-year sales up 250 per cent, said Mr Buck.

The only downside of online sales is the dependence on courier firms, which can be erratic in service delivery, he said.

"The problem with the internet is you are relying on other people, whereas in a shop it is solely you. You are responsible if you can't deliver to that customer. People get a lot more frustrated with the internet than the shop."

Structural changes aside, the economic cycle will continue to turn. Where would Mr Buck like to take the business in the future? "Ideally, I'd love to sell out in years to come.

"But I love the business. I have got some great staff and they have been very good to me and I have been very good with them.

"Alternatively, if someone came along now with 10 shops and it was an interesting proposition I would look into buying them and merging it with my company. As a company we would grow a lot faster as opposed to just opening new shops."

The company opened four new stores last year. He is undecided how many he will open this year; it will depend on demand and the cost of rent.

It is an approach that appears to chime with the best career advice he has received: "Go with your gut feel, your gut instincts. Sometimes it's wrong, sometimes it isn't. It's what you want to do."

DANIEL BUCK

FACTFILE

Title: Owner

Date of birth: August 19, 1968

Education: Leeds Grammar School

First job: Messenger boy, Tel Aviv Hilton

Favourite holiday destination: Israel and Barbados

Last book read: the new John Grisham

Favourite song: Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption

Car driven: Bentley Continental

Most proud of: My children