Zatera Ul

We went shoe shopping at the North Branch outlet stores this weekend. MFH tried on about 30 pairs of shoes at the Reebok store before settling on a pair. I looked at the other stores for a new pair of “trompers” (sturdy leather walking shoes), and it was hard work. The women’s side of the store is barely worth my looking at, because the shoes are nearly all too flimsy, too cutesy, and just not big enough. (The only store I know with a really good selection of women’s 11W shoes is the Little Red Shoehouse in Rockford, MI. Sigh.) On the men’s side, there were more possibilities, most of which were immediately rejected when I tried them on. For comparison purposes, I was wearing my old trompers, a pair of Dexter shoes that I bought used for $2 at a thrift store four or five years ago, which have stood up to a great deal of hard use. Some of the shoes I tried on had less cushioning than my old, thoroughly worn-out shoes; rejected. I almost settled on a pair of Rockport shoes (the World Traveller Classic or something like that), but they had a big flat lump in the middle of each forefoot, apparently for “cushioning”, and this lump started to get annoying after about a minute of wear. So we looked around some more, came back to Roseville and shopped some more, and I eventually ended up with a different, lumpless style of Rockport shoe. Good enough. By this time, my feet were not happy–my old trompers are worse for standing than for walking.

I started thinking again about my personal store–an imaginary store that specializes in a one-person niche market (me), and only carries things that I would want to buy. Not that this store would ever be profitable, given my spending habits, but it’s fun to think of a place where I would be assured of finding things I like. This store would be a great time-saver (here I am thinking of my January quest for Smarties).