Shoe Shopping

Well my mind is back on the subject of feet--maybe I should say shoes. I have a very narrow foot, and it is very difficult for me to find shoes. All of my life I have been so envious of women who are able to walk into a shoe store and have the sales person bring out an armload of shoes for them to try on. I am lucky if one shop worn box is brought out for my inspection, and usually I get a shake of the head and a "sorry." So often when I try on the one pair of shoes I will look down and think, "oh, another pair of clown shoes", as the shoe flops on my foot.

I can remember when I was three or four I had a pair of sandals. After that my mother was unable to find a pair of sandals that were narrow enough for me. I was so unhappy in the summer time because all the other kids were wearing sandals. My mother would drag me from store to store to store trying to find shoes that fit. Salesmen would say, "don't worry, your foot will spread out when you are older." Well they were right to some extent. My foot went from AAAA/AAAAAA to AA/AAAA.

I think I was in my late twenties before I got my second pair of sandals. This was before the onset of catalog and internet shopping. Department stores would stock only limited numbers of narrow shoes if any at all.

In the 1970's catalog shopping took off. I found a few places that carried hard-to-find sizes and was able to find shoes although they were often not the more fashionable brands. In the 1980's I discovered Ferragamo shoes. At $200+ a pop they were quite an extravagance, but they felt and looked good and fit well.

Well back to the subject of sandals. Now in the 21st century it seems that there are a number of popular brands such as Mephisto, Merrell, Ecco, Keen and Teva that only come in one width. They are cool sandals but unfortunately not for me. Easy Spirit, Naturalizer and Propet do make a limited number of sandals in narrow widths, but my old catalog favorites are now selling out quickly.

On Saturday I did a Google search on "women's sandals narrow feet". I found an online shoe store, Shoebuy.com. They have a large number of brands and low prices. I found a sandal made by Propet in my size. They seemed to have the lowest price on the web. I found a coupon code for them that would given an additional 15% off. They also offer free shipping and free shipping on returns. The old saying, "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is," came to my mind. I did a check of them on Bizrate.com and bbb.org (Better Business Bureau). They seem to have a very clean record. I placed my order after reading all the fine print. It appears that Shoebuy.com does not actually carry inventory. They place the order with the shoe manufacturer, and the shoe is shipped by the manufacturer directly to the customer. This sounds like a way to be sure of receiving fresh stock. Now the question remains of how long the order will take to arrive. The Shoebuy.com web site says the order should be delivered within 10 business days. That is two calendar weeks. I am hoping for the best. Update: I received an email with the UPS tracking number. The sandals have started their trip to me. This morning the UPS tracking information says the package departed Seattle, WA, and is scheduled for delivery on March 21. Shoebuy.com is located in Boston so they really are having their shoes sent from manufacturers or distributors.