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The experience of trying on shoes doesn't normally include a test drive. Taking potential new running shoes to the track isn't an option, and it's not OK to try out galoshes in the rain before you buy them.
But the owners of the new BossaBella dancewear store at the Oaks Shopping Center are changing that rule. Their selection of tap, jazz and ballet shoes is accompanied by a patch of wooden floor, a mirror and a barre, to allow dancers the chance to twirl around in their new shoes in the same environment as where they practice.
Manager Marnie Bratton says this was the aim of BossaBella's owners, who own a dance studio in the Cupertino area and wanted to make the experience as easy as possible. "There are about five [dance] studios within a five-mile radius, and they knew there was a need for a store like this in the area," she says. "And there aren't many dance stores that can serve from head to toe like we do."
BossaBella, whose plush quarters are in a corner of the Oaks, held its grand opening on Aug. 28, and the store stocks shoes, leotards and even bun holders, for the most serious of dancers. While many young dancers stop by on their way to their first ballet classes, inventory covers older dancers as well. Bratton, who danced with the Sunnyvale Community Center in her youth, sees a lot of mothers come by to try out dancing at the same time as their children. "We're kid-tested, mother-approved," she says with a grin.
Bratton and the rest of BossaBella's employees have dancing experience, so they can explain the difference between split-sole and full-sole shoes without a problem. The team also keeps in contact with various dance studios in the area, such as Dance Attack! in Sunnyvale, to keep supply lists on hand in case there's a question.
One little girl recently came into BossaBella claiming she needed black ballet shoes, but Bratton cross-referenced the teacher on her list. "It turned out that she needed black jazz shoes and pink ballet shoes, but she'd just written it down wrong," Bratton says. "Certain classes require certain clothes."
While BossaBella's owners also operate a studio—and hope to turn BossaBella into a chain—the store's bulletin boards advertise dance studios of all persuasions in the area. "We really want to build our customer base with the studios," Bratton says. And with that partnership, and many fall classes that are now getting under way, that wooden floor could be getting a lot of use soon.
BossaBella is located at 21269 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 770. For more information, call 408.257.3300.
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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer