Luro Boots needed to grow, Elevate advisors made it easier

Luro Boots needed to grow, Elevate advisors made it easier

Gilberto Diaz, the founder of Luro Boots, was selling a lot of boots, hats, belt buckles, and other western wear at his Bloomington shop. But the success of his business meant he needed more room, a lot more room.

“We were working out of about 800 square feet,” said Gilberto. “My business keeps growing and growing with the western wear trends and I had to move to a bigger location.”

The big move meant a lot of complexities around leases and finances, and he still had to keep up with the growing business.

Through conversations and work with Bloomington economic development leaders, Gilberto found his way to Elevate Hennepin. He worked with several advisors to break down the complexities of moving and creating a strategy to keep growing. Vicky Gonzales, with Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD), offered support for financial management and general business coaching. NewPublica helped him develop a new brand. And Juan Llerena, of JLLB Media, developed Luro Boots’ first website and brought Luro Boots’ new branding to life. Finally, Davis Senseman, at Davis Law Firm helped finalize lease details.

It was a team effort that Gilberto said added a whole back office of experts to his small business. Because of that support, he could focus on his specialty: finding and selling great boots.

Since launching his company in 2009, Gilberto developed a deep understanding of sourcing great products, building awareness in his community, and he’s great at selling all sorts of boots. But wrangling finances, building a website, and keeping current with branding, and managing a legal process were things—like many small business operators—he just didn’t have time to learn about let alone time to do.

“Right now, I don't even have time to do all the work that I have in the store,” said Gilberto.

Not only did advisors augment his small business with new skills and offer expert guidance to his many questions, but they also helped him develop a growth strategy to keep moving forward.

The new Luro Boots location opened in early May of 2024 with 4,000 square feet of western, hiking, and work boots as well as clothing, hats, and other western wear at an active strip mall in Bloomington. But Gilberto is already looking ahead on the strategy.

“We’re probably going to do the second store pretty soon,” said Gilberto.

He’s also looking to diversify his customer base with Elevate Hennepin support. Currently, much of his customer base is Latino, but he’s looking to capitalize on the broader western wear explosion with a new marketing push with JLLB Media.

“About 80 percent of my customers, they’re Latinos,” said Gilberto. “But my plan is to get to something like 50-50 Latino and others. So, we’re working together to do more advertising or do more marketing right now on different platforms that will help me to expand into this market, because it’s huge.”

While he has worked hard to build his business to where it is today, he said the support and guidance from Elevate advisors provided an extra boost and helped him push his business to the next level.

His advice for other small business owners looking to take that next step: connect with Elevate Hennepin advisors today.

“The advisors help you answer all those big questions and make it way easier for owners in a very professional way,” said Gilberto. “I’m so impressed and thankful.”

Take a look at the grand opening of the new Luro Boots below: