Luíza (Lulú)

The last couple of years have been difficult for our economy. A lot of shops have closed. Luíza's shop not only survived, she opened two other stores. Her secret? Her financial discipline, her positive attitude and her enormous smile. People love being around her.
Well, and it certainly helps that she sells Havaianas. Everybody  in Brazil has at least one pair of these flip-flops that come in every color you can imagine. In the sixties and seventies, when they were introduced to the market, the Havaianas were the poor people's footwear but today you can see them on poor feet and rich feet, on feet torn by the hard work on contstruction sites and on freshly pedicured ones. Some have gone as far as to praise the Havaianas as the unifying symbol of Brazilian society. No, no need to exaggerate. Havaianas have done nothing to diminish the horrendous inequality between rich and poor in Brazil. Wearing Havaianas doesn't automatically make the doctor share a meal with a beggar. The reason is much simpler: Our hot climate affects rich feet and poor feet equally. A sweating foot doesn't care if its owner is rich or poor, it just doesn't want to be submitted to the smelly dampness of closed footwear.
If you need additional reasons to buy a pair of Havaianas, let your feet carry you to one of Lulú's stores. Her smile will warm your heart and make your toes dance to the rhythm of her laughter. And as you know, it's hard to dance when you're imprisoned.  

MMC17 Day #8