Zineb Lazraq has stepped in to save her father's long-running shoe store, Rich Collection Bella Italia, in east London by launching a viral social media campaign on TikTok.
Her father, Rachid Lazraq, had decided to close the shop on Hackney Road in the summer of 2026 after struggling with a persistent decline in footfall.
Rachid Lazraq, who is of Moroccan origin, had operated Rich Collection Bella Italia for 34 years. Over the decades, he had managed to endure dramatic neighborhood transformations, rising rent costs and shifting fashion trends before declining customer numbers forced him to prepare for closure.
After making multiple attempts to turn the business around and reflecting on its future, Lazraq posted a sign in the shop window announcing that the store was closing soon and offering discount sales on remaining inventory.
Family business turnaround on TikTok
At the same time her father made the decision to close the family store, Zineb Lazraq had just lost her job working as a journalist.
The direction of the business changed after Zineb saw a TikTok video posted by a French content creator. The video highlighted the impending closure of the Hackney Road shop alongside its stock of Y2K footwear, featuring late 1990s and early 2000s designs that Rachid Lazraq had been selling for years without realizing they had returned to fashion.
Inspired by the response to the creator's post, Zineb Lazraq decided to record and upload her own TikTok video focused on her father's store. Rather than organizing a complex marketing strategy, she recorded straightforward videos showing merchandise that had sat inside the shop for years.
Changing dynamics of family succession
Modern retail succession is increasingly shifting as younger family members use digital tools to support traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts. Today, business succession does not necessarily involve a child taking over behind the counter, but rather standing in front of it with a mobile phone.
Hackney Road, located between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green in east London, has seen extensive commercial redevelopment over recent decades, placing pressure on independent traders facing changing consumer demographics and high operating costs.
The resurgence of Y2K fashion has driven renewed demand for vintage footwear and late 1990s streetwear across social media platforms like TikTok, where viral videos frequently connect niche independent stockists with younger buyers.
