Shoe store craze | Imamother

flowerpower

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 9:17 pm

So smart me decided to beat the rush for back to school shoes and went this afternoon. The wait was over two hours. From when the worker served me until I paid was a total of 13 minutes for a few pairs of shoes. He told me I am the easiest customer he had so far. People that were there an hour before me getting served were still there when I left. When will people realize that the world doesn't revolve around them and be considerate?!? We picked out choices before out turn so we knew what we wanted. I wish the stores would make the same rule- a certain amount of time per family.

amother

Purple

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 9:25 pm

I have 2 kids that are very hard to fit. Wide and high instep. So I do the easy to fit first, which take a few minutes. And then the two others can take up to an hour, trying on every shoe.

amother

Salmon

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 9:25 pm

Yes, it gets me so nervous. There was a family in front of me that got me so mad. They brought along the grandmother. So the mother and grandmother were deciding for 1/2 hour between 2 shoes. The child had to keep changing between the 2 shoes and then they would bring out another one and then they would try on the first one again................................ This family had at least 3 children getting shabbos and weekday shoes. I wanted to yell and scream!!!!! It's only shoes as long as the shoe fits just take it and move along. You would think buying a child shoes was a major life decision.

ra_mom

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 9:28 pm

I wish we could be in and out in a few minutes. But dd is super sensory and it takes time until she finds something that's comfortable. Once we find two pairs of shoes that are maybes, I send the salesperson on to the next person and allow my dd to figure out which one will work for her on her own time.

flowerpower

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 9:55 pm

If you have a hard fit or sensory, that is a different story completely! That I understand. But if you are standing there making the worker bring a trillion pairs of shoes and still can't decide then that is mighty selfish. It's just shoes for heaven sake!

amother

Salmon

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 10:02 pm

Also, the stores have all the shoes on display. By the time it comes to my turn I already know the 2 or 3 pairs that I want my child to try on.

amother

Sienna

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 10:56 pm

cm wrote:

The best shoe stores are self-serve, IMO.

One of the things I miss about now that I live oot is not having a store to go get my kids foot properly fitted for a shoe.

watergirl

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 11:02 pm

amother wrote:

One of the things I miss about now that I live oot is not having a store to go get my kids foot properly fitted for a shoe.

Yup. Its so sad that 99.9% of the countries children are walking around the shoes that are not fitted properly! If only we could all live in Brooklyn, for the Jewish shoe stores in Brooklyn are the only hallowed grounds where there are people who know how to fit our precious children.

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 11:13 pm

amother wrote:

One of the things I miss about now that I live oot is not having a store to go get my kids foot properly fitted for a shoe.

Helpful for toddlers, sure. After that, it isn't so hard for parents to DIY, in my experience.

amother

Amethyst

Mon, Aug 15 2016, 11:47 pm

amother wrote:

One of the things I miss about now that I live oot is not having a store to go get my kids foot properly fitted for a shoe.

My mother works in a children's shoe store in Brooklyn. The whole fitting thing is a sham. It doesn't exist anywhere else and my mother is no bigger expert in fitting shoes than anyone else, even if she needs to pretend for the customers that she is.

cnc

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 12:10 am

watergirl wrote:

Exactly what my pediatrician says...

amother

Sienna

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 12:21 am

amother wrote:

You have to know where to go. Not all brooklyn stores fit correctly and you will find stores out of brooklyn that do fit correctly

greenfire

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 12:35 am

every mother should know how a shoe fits her kid ... if they have a wide foot - if their toes have enough room to wiggle and grow

and if a particular child has a rapid growth span or a slow one

now go to marshall's and buy sales

amother

Beige

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 2:39 am

I don't live in NY anymore but OOT just go to stride rite. They fit your kid and find an appropriate pair. Or near me now is a kids store that does the same... However they are super expensive so I will only go if stride rite isn't possible (out of shoes that fit etc). Your kids don't need $100 shoes that wear out just as quick. Just because the label says European doesn't make it better.
And most of the stores I went to in Brooklyn (small, mostly heimish) push the fancy brands even when you say they don't fit.

amother

Olive

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 2:54 am

I disagree with the posters saying u don't need someone to fit the children- it's not a sham! The people working by Schwartz's shoes or Tescher's rlly do know what they are doing, and can look at a foot and get a shoe that is the right shape and sturdiness for that particular shape. I wish I was back in boro park when it comes time to take my 2 year old for new shoes.

gold21

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 3:10 am

Im very careful when buying shoes, I think it's very important that shoes fit well and are good quality. With that said, there is only one person I trust to fit my kids properly- ME. I dont need a graduate from Shoe Academy to tell me which shoes work for my kids.

**except for the first pair of shoes- that is the only time I appreciate input from a salesperson- since with a first pair of shoes, I am only just learning the child's feet, I don't yet know whether the child tends to be wide, narrow, etc, and I'm only just figuring it all out for the first time.... so talking it out with a salesperson does help, although ultimately I make the final decision.

Raisin

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 4:53 am

Shoe shops that fit shoes also exist where I live in Europe, and also get really busy this time of year. Not a 2 hour wait though! I never know what shoes are in my kids size though, and in any case they always only have 2 or 3 styles in my childs size.

I do occasionally buy shoes off the shelf in cheaper stores but they don't always fit as well.

salt

Tue, Aug 16 2016, 5:19 am

Oh my. I'm totally confused here by who is being sarcastic and who is not.
I live no where near Brooklyn, but is there something special about how they fit shoes. Doesn't one just try it on, feel where the toe is, walking around the shop then either buy it or choose another one and do the same?
If the fitting procedure takes a long time in a particular shop, because they have some special method, and people are waiting hours to be served, the shop is just lacking staff. Why shouldn't a customer get full attention? The shop needs to address the needs of it's customers.
Problem is that it seems like people will continue shopping in these shops, despite the bad service, so the shop management doesn't feel the need to up the staff, and so it will continue.

Although OP do you really choose your shoes quickly out of compassion for the person behind you in the line? Or are you probably like me and just don't have patience to try 50 pairs of shoes on your kids?