Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Choose your Shoes: DSW

I have ever so much to say on the subject of shoes. Today's insight is: cheap shoes are a waste of your time and money. Cheap shoes will make any outfit look dowdy, wear out quickly, and are more likely to fit improperly. Just ask my friend Ms. Meghan (the shoe guru).

When I say cheap, I don't necessarily mean "inexpensive," but I have found that it is not as easy to find great cheap shoes as it is to find great cheap clothing. However, there are a few beacons of light...one is DSW in Union Square.

I've been to a few DSWs in Queens, Brooklyn and New Jersey, but we're in the Big City, kids, and DSW is smart enough to know that scores of Carrie Bradshaw wannabes need their Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo, Miu Miu, Kate Spade, Kenneth Cole, Cole Haan and so on...merely offering 16 varieties of Timberlands ain't gonna cut it in Money Makin'.

Get ready to spend a lot of time here - it is an enormous store with tons of merchandise that they say is refreshed on a daily basis. I almost believe them too because when I went 6 weeks ago, I left with only one pair of Cole Haan black suede & leather mary janes [see photo]. Two weeks later? For $404 I walked out of there with three pairs of boots (Tommy Hilfiger brown suede, Kenzi short black leather with crazy heel, and crazy hot Michael Kors black leather lace-ups [see photo]) and a pair of men's (yes men's too) Mizuno running shoes for my y-boyfriend a.k.a. "my very special friend" that he can wear to his new hospital gig in the woods...(oooh, scary...)

So while this might seem to pale in comparison to my earlier story of scoring 3 pairs of Kenneth Coles for $90 in Seacaucus, we're talking LEATHER BOOTS - and I don't know if you noticed recently, but walk into any department store or high-end shoe boutique worth their salt and a pair of boots cost a minimum of $700 and more (meanwhile, I missed the memo on this one - when did that happen?!)

Also, DSW has scores of sales racks full of shoes for an additional 20-80% off. I bought a pair of strappy black Charles David sandals this way last winter and if I could figure out how to post more than one photo at a time on this thing I'd show you.

And if all of this weren't enough, they also have a rewards program where you get gift certificates depending on how much money you have spent. I used one for $30 during the "big boot score" a few weeks ago, and am expecting another one in the mail any day now. I am gunning for the DSW Premier Rewards program whereby I will be treated like a shoe goddess.

Oh, they also have purses. Ew...I really hate that word.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! We have DSWs here too but I have never ventured into one. I totally agree with you shoe theory. In what I thought was a fairly stsupid move a few years ago I bought a pair of Jimmy Choo boots which cost more than 1/2 my rent. .. but they have been through the mill and still look great. I have brought them in for repairs and even Mr. Shoemaker was like "these are VERY nicely made." They will probably last another 5 years...so amortized, the price was actually much better than if I hd bought a pair of cheap boots once a year.

Unknown said...

You can also find cheap shoes at shoecartel