I'm embarrassed to admit (ok, I'm not embarrassed to admit, and nobody should be) that I've been on a Mister Rogers kick lately. His show is just the thing one needs at the end of the day. Today, he visited a shoe store and it got me thinking about shoe shopping, too.
We went to a local shoe store called Arnold's. The mascot was a droopy looking Bassett hound, who could be seen in the window. I wonder if they sold doggy merch, too, but I can't recall. I remember being excited to see one girl I rode the bus with and her family there, once/ When I was young, I always had my feet measured by a sales associate. I think they did away with these by the time I was a teenager. Anyway, my dad had experience working in my grandpa's shoe store as a teenager, so he could measure feet as good as anyone.
It always smelled good. Not Home Depot good, but new leather good. I mostly bought sneakers as a kid, and after I tried them on I was always made to walk up and down the store in them to make sure they fit. One of my favorite pairs of shoes when I was young was a largely blue pair with some gray trim and pink laces. While the shoes that lit up were always fascinating, I never got one (though I did have some snow boots at one point that lit up on the heel). And I never bought Heelys. Did anyone wear those? The shoes you could "skate" in were popular at my sister's school at one point.
If I wanted a nice pair of flats, I'd often go to the mall with my grandparents for those. Macy's always had good selection, and we had good luck in finding pairs that fit. We sometimes had less luck trying to get the disposable socks on (you know the ones).
Interestingly, my grandparents used to own a shoe store themselves. Called The Athlete's Foot, it was in a local shopping center. It seemed like a strange thing for them to do (I can't see my grandma owning a shoe store), but my dad and grandpa talked about it all the time. Grandma says they never turned a profit. Still, it was my dad's summer job for a few years. Even today, he'll go with me shoe shopping to make sure the shoes fit right!
Then we got them packed up to bring home and eventually start wearing to school. You never wanted the shiny white shoes to get dirty, but it would always happen. Sometimes there were lollipops. Best of all, and Mister Rogers mentioned this too, was that you could do so many things with the shoe box. We made stages for our electronic Micro-Pets to perform on, among other things.
Arnold's no longer exists. Today I frequent chains such as Kohl's or Famous Footwear, or, if I get a coupon in the mail, DSW. I don't matter what traditions are involved; shoe shopping is never my favorite. The best part is just getting the shoes in the end, and that's what matters!
