Shoe Shopping Woes
August 16th, 2010I know that in the grand scheme of things, having two different sized feet really isn’t a big deal. That does not make it less frustrating to find shoes for my daughter. We went to the outlet mall this weekend, hoping to find two or three pairs of shoes for Maddie’s fall wardrobe. With two shoe stores carrying toddler shoes at the outlet, I thought that this wasn’t an impossible dream. Six months can make you forget a lot. Almost as soon as I entered the shoe store, full of hope, I remembered how awful it is to shoe shop for Maddie.
We got her feet sized, and determined that we would be shopping for a size 6 for her left foot and a size 7.5 for her right. We found a pair of shoes that we liked and were then able to locate both sizes. Unfortunately, after trying them on, we determined (and were told by the sales person) that the style runs a bit small. So, we needed a 6.5 and 8 in that style. The 6.5 we found right away. The 8 was nowhere to be found. They weren’t able to locate one in the back either. So then we searched for another “pair.”
After failing to find a match, I pulled EVERY SINGLE 6 AND 7.5 from the shelves, hoping to find a match. I had no such luck. I brought the 8 boxes up to the front and said, “I’d love to find a 7.5 in ANY of these 7 or a 6 in this one.” The only 7.5 that I found started at size 7, so that one was out right away. The sales lady went to the back in search of any 7.5s and came back with two pairs of shoes. One was a navy pair and the other was black. They were cute enough. The brown pair was passable. It’s not quite what we were looking for, but it will do. The navy ones were too wide. Maddie has very narrow little feet.
Next, we tried the other shoe store and found one hideous shoe. I couldn’t bring myself to even have her try it on. It was awful and would not have gone with any of her outfits.
It was a long exhausting trip to the outlets, and I no longer think it is worth it. I think from now on, we’ll just stick close to home and either pay full price at Stride Rite or just find whatever we can at Target or Kohl’s or wherever.
Shoe shopping is a pain for us, but my heart aches for my poor little girl who will one day grow up and buy her own shoes. Perhaps she will find that getting special inserts will work for her. I have heard from other adults with two different sized feet mixed reviews on that approach. Maybe she will become friends with a shoe buddy with opposite sized feet?
In other news, I found a pair of shoes that I liked. My feet are still a full size larger than my pre-pregnancy days. Joy. Nobody warned me of the permanent shoe size change that comes with pregnancy for some people!
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