Te Casan: A Shoe Paradise

My very pregnant stringer, who I just learned is no longer pregnant, but the proud mother of a little baby girl, had informed me of a new shoe store called "Te Casan" in Soho. She had come across it in a New York magazine article a few weeks ago:

It’s bigger than Capitale! If you have not yet heard of Té Casan, and if you like shoes, you soon will: It’s a 5,500-square-foot, chandelier-hung, glass-staircased Soho store filled with nothing but women’s shoes.

OK, cutting to the chase, this place is awesome. The shoes are amazing, the salespeople attentive and accessible, the layout open and engaging...it's really an "experience," which is what any smart retailer understands is key to success, especially in New York where the competition is fierce, block after block. I think that if Sex and the City was still on the air they would have had to have filmed a few episodes in here. Why? Other than because I said so, here are some reasons:

• Three floors of footwear bliss for women only
• Shoes designed by seven up-and-coming designers who craft their art - and this stuff really is art - in Spain
• All limited editon shoes, which are numbered on the bottom, like a painting!
• Private "pods" in which you can try the shoes on
• $200-$475 a pair (not exactly cheap, but cheaper than Marc Jacobs, Chanel, etc.)
• New merchandise coming in January
• Free tea on the lower level
• The sickest in-a-good-way pair of boots that Vivienne Westwood would be proud to call her own, if only she had thought of the design first.

And lucky for me I had the pleasure of being shown around the store by Susan, who didn't even know I was a shopping blogger until the end of my visit. They have a secret weapon in her as a salesperson - very down to earth, cool and yet enthusiastic and knowledgable about the designers and the shoes. I shall return!