Shannon Boueri may not have known what the future held for her in eighth grade, but her classmates sure did. There on the wall of her high-end boutique—Footcandy Delray Beach (104 S.E. First St., 561/278-5545)—is a framed prediction that would have made Nostradamus proud.
“Shannon will open a shoe store,” reads a prophecy that dates back to the 1980s, before Boueri left her native New Orleans—and long before her shoe collection at home reached a total of which even its owner has lost count.
“I’ve always loved shoes,” Boueri says. “Even when I was in grade school, I was known for my shoes. Back then, whenever we went to parties, Shannon always had her shoes on.”
Today, Boueri is parlaying that love into a destination store in what is becoming known as the SOFA (South of Atlantic Avenue) district, with footwear from top designers such as Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Stuart Weitzman— and designer handbags that can run into the thousands of dollars. Shoe-a-holics will find everything from $50 flip-flops and crystal-studded flats to a pair of $1,100 Giuseppe Zanotti platforms with 7-inch stiletto heels.
“There are a lot of women just like me,” Boueri says. “They’re crazy for shoes. They come here because they’re fashion forward, have a sense of style and believe that shoes express who they are.”
