Up and Running

Volume 5

Over the past weekend we decided to take things here at The Shoe Café all the way public. We did this by leasing out a flea market space in Sanford, FL. at Flea World. In order to achieve this there were a few legal steps that needed to be taken to make sure that we were in full compliance. First and foremost we had to obtain a federal tax id number also referred to as employer identification number (EIN) we were able to retrieve the application and complete this at no cost through the IRS website at https://sa1.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp. After completing the application for the EIN we were off to the flea market leasing office to find out what the next step in securing the space would require. We were given a list of things that needed to be completed. After leaving the leasing office we headed to the Seminole County Tax office were we had to pay $25 to secure Seminole County business tax license, which gave us the official name The Shoe Café by Shalana Thompson. This new business name is only temporary as we were informed that in order to make it just The Shoe Café we would need to pay $89 and register a fictitious name through www.sunbiz.com. This was amongst one of the last things needed to make us an official business. The last form that we needed to secure was the Florida Sales Tax ID which was one of the forms we were able to complete online via http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=8. 

After securing all of the forms we headed back to the leasing office to show that we were in compliance and ready to pay the monthly fee of $172.56 for an 8ft x 10ft space. So on Saturday November 06, 2011 we secured our first retail location for little to nothing compared to the price of a freestanding store space. We went about the task of painting and hanging up shelves to display the merchandise. We are very excited about the fact that we were able to complete all of this and have the space opened for the first major shopping holiday that is quickly approaching.