Maria Bello remembers when buying her four daughters new shoes felt like an impossible splurge. On a single-family income, she said, keeping up with the styles her girls wanted was out of reach.
“They wanted to keep up with the trends and wanted the designer shoes all the kids were wearing,” Bello, of Summit, said.
That challenge pushed her toward a solution: sell the shoes herself.
Bello began buying inventory in California and hauling it to flea markets around the Chicago area. She called her mobile shop Beautiful Shoes, working every weekend and even weekdays for more than twenty years until her booth became a regular stop for customers.
With the growing demand, Bello said she came to a realization.
“I decided it was time to take a leap of faith,” she said.
Bello’s first official brick and mortar location called Bello & Bravo officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 9, at 6057 W. 63rd Street in Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood.
“The location is perfect,” said her daughter, Esmeralda, who is also the Marketing Coordinator for Bello & Bravo. “We literally live walking distance, right by the train tracks in Summit. It’s also a nice tie for the surrounding Hispanic and Latino communities.”
The shop offers men’s, women’s and children’s shoes, along with clothing, jewelry and other accessories. But Bello said what makes it special is the way it runs: entirely as a family operation.
When they are in the store, her daughters enjoy helping customers, stocking shelves and managing sales. Relatives pitch in for special events and her grandchildren’s laughter fills the shop.
The store, Bello said, reflects how close they are as a family and how much they enjoy working side by side.
“We’re extremely family-oriented,” she said. “Every decision is made together, and every success is something we celebrate as a family.”
Esmeralda agreed.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my mom,” she said. “Her store shows how tight knit we are.”
For Bello, that’s exactly the point. What started as a way to give her daughters more has turned into a business that keeps them together.
