I thought I’d post a follow-up on the boot situation I was complaining about earlier.
I don’ t know why, but I went back to that shoe store again the day after. Luckily it was open this time!
Poor little Max (the owner) of Shoe Avenue sitting alone on his chair twiddling his thumbs… it looked like it had been a slow day! He was totally stoked to see me.
I mentioned that “a friend” (The Asian Pear) told me about this store and that she had gotten some shoes there and Max lit up like a candle. He sure is enthusiastic about shoes and customer service! Holy smokes!
He sits me down in a chair, hands me some water to drink (how nice!) and starts asking me what kind of shoe or boot I’m looking for.
We go through a whole slew of different styles and he explains to me how sizing works, how to properly tuck my pants inside the boots and even puts the boots on me himself!
Talk about great customer service! I think I ended up spending about an hour there with him talking about all the boots & shoes he has, and then talking about my neighbourhood. He used to have a shop in my neighbourhood so we chatted about the changes that have taken place since.
Long story short, I think I have settled on a pair of boots, Trot by Ros Hommerson (first pic). They’re not the other Ros Hommerson’s that I was in love with (second pic), but they look decent on me, fit my muscular calves and even have room for me to tuck my pants in, which is a nice feature.
Ros Hommerson Turin
I still really want those Turin ones with the buttons and pointy toes *sigh* but it seems like they have been discontinued? I’m not able to find them anywhere (for the price that Max is giving me the Trot for, that is).
Speaking of which, Max cut me a great deal. He has to order them in special for me (he called the place to get them MADE for me!) but he’s still a fair guy, knocking $70 off the regular price & throwing in a free shoe product. This brings the boots down to $180 + tax. Yay!
This is great news for me because I’ve had an expensive autumn so far and I really didn’t want to pay $250 for a pair of boots that I technically don’t need. They’re just a want. A big one, but still only a want.
While I wait a couple of weeks for my boots to come in I’ll be able to move some of my money around and find a way to pay for them. I think I’ll actually get paid between now and then, too.
While I am excited to get these boots, I can’t help but wonder how their purchase and my new purse will affect me going forward. I don’t really have extra money to spend on these nice things, but for some reason I can’t stop myself. I’m not really going into debt for them, but I’m certainly taking away from my savings. And I feel a little guilty about that. I think I’ll save my thoughts on the subject for a later post…
On the bright side, I’ve learned about some more options available to the wide-calved Canadian boot consumer. A big thanks to C of The Asian Pear and Allie of Wardrobe Oxygen for emailing me their suggestions–I found some new stores to salivate over!
If you’re in the market for some wide-width shoes or wide-calf boots, here are some links for you!
Shoe Avenue: Located in Toronto, you can actually try on the boots they sell! Yay for physical locations!
Wide Widths: An online shoe store that has a veritable smorgasboard of wide-calf boots that ship to Canada
Zappos Canada: Also online, also ship to Canada
Miller Shoes: A Canadian store in Hamilton with both an online shop and a physical shop!
8 responses to “Das Boots!”
Everyone else's fall shopping is making me want to shop, too. 🙁 I've got a coat & a tote bag on my radar right now… Neither is terribly expensive, but it'd do major damage to my savings. (And, with October having three paydays, it's making it scary easy to rationalize the two purchases.)
I mean, both items are fairly classic and would last me a while, but I just spent $123 on a dress too… 🙁 I'm horrible at clothes spending!! Not often, just in huge chunks.
Ooooh! It's good to know there's some decent places in the GTA. I see that Miller's sells Fluevogs! I may be doomed…
I love a good customer service story.
(True story here too.. my word verification is "cents") 😛
It's a sign!
YAY! I knew Max would take care of you! 🙂
I think he must have been closed on Monday cause it's a religious holiday on the 28th. Two of my co-workers took the day off too for a particular religious holiday.
you must take a photo of you with the boots when it arrives! 😀
LOVE THOSE BOOTS.
How DO you properly tuck in jeans? And if they're ankle boots? Because I don't know what to do with this pair I've got now, other than starting with hemming the jeans.
Revanche:
At your ankle, take the excess fabric, squeeze it together into a flap, then fold the flap around your leg. Presto! You have properly tucked jeans!
However if you're talking about jeans that are just too long rather than bootleg/flare then you will just have to hem them…
Oh, great, thanks! The skinnies ARE a little too long, but the boot cuts were puzzling as well.