Sole Reopens in Center of Downtown

The champagne was flowing at the intersection of East Broad Street and Elm Street Saturday as Sole celebrated a move to the prominent location.

The Italian shoe store opened in the new location, formerly occupied by Liberty Travel, after an eight year residency on Prospect Street near the Savannah. Anna Mastroianni, the store's owner, said the new location will offer the store increased visibility along with more space. She had 500 square feet of space in the old location with the new store offering 1000 square feet in the show room and an additional 300 square feet for storage.

"This is a much better location and people can see us," Mastroianni said. "We out grew our old space five years ago."

Sole, which also has a location on South Street in Morristown, specializes in imported Italian shoes, focusing on brands exclusive to Sole. Mastroianni said she focuses on bringing hand crafted all leather women's and children's shoes over from Italy. When she started the business she started building relationships with manufacturers in Italy.

"When I first started the business, I traveled to Italy and I found the manufacturers that were very unique and I started relationships," she said. "I am not a shoe person. I wanted to bring something special and unique. It had to be something no one else had. Eight years ago you could not get anything like this in the United States."

One section of the store is dedicated to hand designed children's shoes. The children's section includes shoes with hand woven designs that are different from the normal children's shoe fare.

To celebrate the opening of the new location, Sole was offering free champagne to customers on Saturday along with freshly baked cookies with the store's logo. An official grand opening soiree is planned for September.

Mastroianni's customers come from the Westfield region but also from other parts of the state including Monmouth County. Customers, who have moved out of the area, have continued relationships asking for shoes to be shipped. These customers include residents of Texas, Upstate New York and Ireland. Mastroianni also noted she has one special customer, who flies in twice a year from Paris. The customer is friends with Westfield residents and she discovered Sole during a previous visit to Westfield. Since then she has included Sole and downtown Westfield on her semi-annual shopping trips to New York.

"We have a customer from Paris twice a year because she can't find the shoes anywhere else," Mastroianni said. "She comes here twice a year for her shoes."