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Vân Nguyễn & Vũ Thu Hà

Nguyễn Trọng Nghĩa closely checks hundreds of sneakers placed nicely on many shelves in a house in Đội Cấn Street, Hà Nội before handing them over to customers before Tết.

At first sight, the 20sq.m room may look like a warehouse of a shoe company, but it turns out to be part of a shoe-and-bag care service store that 32-year-old Nghĩa founded a few years ago.

Unlike the domestic footwear market, which has been struck hard by declining global orders, Nghĩa’s business thrives thanks to high domestic demand during this time of the year.

“The high season for care services is before and after Tết (Lunar New Year). Before the holiday, there is a high demand for cleaning, refurbishing and repairing items to be used for Tết. After the holiday, the weather in northern Việt Nam is often wet and cold with light rain, so the road is dirty, and there is a high demand for shoe cleaning," he said.

Nguyễn Trọng Nghĩa attending to shoes in his store. VNS Photos Vân Nguyễn

On average, the store receives more than 1,000 items, but for near Tết, the number might be five to six times.

Prices for shoe services range from VNĐ90,000 (US$3.8) to millions of đồng. He said those for branded bags are from VNĐ700,000 to VNĐ10 million depending on the materials and issues of the bags, adding that his customers are mostly middle-income people with disposable income.

It’s not hard to spot items from Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, Adidas, Lining, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci and Dior in the store.

Nghĩa founded the business in 2015, shortly after he graduated from university.

He was a sneaker enthusiast who ran a small business selling shoes and was curious about professional care services for branded items.

“At that time, I noticed that it was difficult to find a good place that offers professional shoe cleaning and fixing services.”

A member of staff cares for a Burberry bag at the store.

He started experimenting with it by offering to clean 200 pairs of shoes for free, and within a few days, he got 300-400 pairs of shoes sent to him.

One of his first customers was a young man born in 1997 or 1998, who drove a BMW i8 and brought four bags with about 20 pairs of shoes worth about VNĐ300-400 million in total.

“At that time, I was new in this and had just started my business with a small store on the second floor of a house in Đặng Tiến Đông Street.

“I was very worried. It was not that I worried I couldn’t handle all of them, but I was worried about the valuable items, so I stayed at the store for three days to work on them and kept an eye on them. When giving back the shoes to my customer, I was relieved,” Nghĩa said.

“Realising that was high demand for these services, I began investing my time and resources into this business,” Nghĩa said.

From a humble store, it has expanded into a business providing jobs for nearly 20 people. He said developing professional procedures for each service and building trust are crucial.

“We have developed professional procedures for different care services and a list of user problems with their shoes and bags. Even those with the same material have a different way of dealing with it. Each material has unique characteristics. It is important to be aware of the differences between each material,” he said.

Vũ Ngọc Trâm refurbishes a bag sent to the store before Tết.

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“Building trust with customers is also important, especially when there are items worth millions or even billion đồng,” the founder said.

Nghĩa said one of his most memorable items is a pair of self-lacing Nike sneakers in a limited edition worth more than VNĐ1 billion.

“For these valuable items, they are collected and exhibited only. Users hardly wear it. They just brought it to us to remove the dust,” he said.

To further develop his business, the 32-year-old said it is important to stay tuned with the latest shoes released.

“Footwear industry develops very quickly and releases new products regularly. There are items made from materials that have never been used before, so we must catch up. When a new product is released, we have to be able to come up with a solution to fix the problems that product may have in the future,” he said.

Noting that there is great potential for the shoe-and-bag care service in Việt Nam that remains untapped, Nghĩa said he was not worried too much about competition.

He said that the demand for care services for branded items is increasing thanks to rising middle income and improved awareness about the use of branded goods.

The 32-year-old is also open to sharing his experience with those who want to learn about the trade.

Vũ Ngọc Trâm, an overseas Vietnamese who owns a store selling branded bags and secondhand items in Melbourne, is one of the trainees.

A staff member instructs Trâm on recolouring a bag.

“I want to learn so that I can fix items that I sell, as well as launch professional services for bags,” said Trâm, who lived in Australia for 15 years and returned to Việt Nam for a month to celebrate Tết with her family and learn about bag care services.

“People here are very helpful and always make it easy for me to follow. This work requires precision and meticulousness. This is just my second day here, so hopefully, after a few days more, I can catch up with others,” she said. — VNS