Shopping for Shoes

Can be oh so complicated.

Thanksgiving sale (aka Black Friday). I was at the Gurnee Mills mall at Gurnee, IL shopping for casual shoes. I was at Famous Footwear who had a buy one – get the second at half off sale and immediately, I knew I might be buying two pairs that day. I took a good long look at this Skechers shoe which was exactly what I was looking for. I called it the country club shoe. It was right down the middle – not too sporty, not too formal and it had plenty of class. I checked the price tag and immediately my credit card ran away from the front flap of my wallet and into the inner flaps between my driver’s license and my library card.

80 bucks? Poor credit card was like a dog in a doghouse hiding from its weekly bath.

Flashback to a week ago, I was at Nordstrom Rack with TA. I saw these so-so Steve Madden shoes priced at 40 bucks. I walked away from it since it was too expensive and it haunted me for the rest of the week. Shoulda… woulda… coulda… oh well.

80 bucks? Quick convert it and that’s 3500 pesos. I checked out the shelves and couldn’t see any other shoe (that would go half off). I’ll put it in the maybe list. I took the shoe, placed it in the box and placed it upside down in a different shelf with ugly shoes. I can’t reserve it so might as well hide it.

I went to this other store and checked out their merchandise. I saw this great brown shoe and it’s… 100 bucks for a shoe?!? I picked up a similar design and what?!? 200 dollars? Hell no and I stormed out of the shop and back to Famous Footwear.

I picked up the Skechers shoe and tried it on. Felt great though it didn’t go well with the shirt I was wearing. I think I’ll buy this IF I can find a good second shoe to maximize the sale. I looked and looked then finally I was back to my chair with two more pairs of shoes. Great. Now I have three pairs to choose from.

The country club shoe was candidate number 1. I was now choosing between a rugged brown shoe or this beige shoe that looked like a golf shoe. The debate took a few hours as I was pitting them against each other – color coordination, fit, size, what I already have back home, cost, material (and how it will hold up against the acidic snow). Eventually, the golf shoe lookalike won because

- It was cheaper by 20 dollars
- I already have a brown shoe back home
- I don’t have any beige shoes.
- While deciding, 3 people approached me and asked if I was purchasing the beige shoe. When I told them yes, they asked where I found it. For some reason, the shoe started to look better as I stare at it. One guy tried it on and it looked good. The other shoe started to look so plain.

So there I was, walking away from the store with my Credit Card taking a $110.00 hit for two shoes and a shoe cleaner. My conscience started to nag me now about the 40 dollar shoe I walked away from because it was too expensive, how this will skew the budget I planned for the next few weeks, how this will mess up the lens I was saving up for and the countless budget cuts I made just to be offset by making a purchase like this.

The devil and the angel appeared on my shoulder. The angel took the devil’s pitchfork and speared my conscience then gave each other a high five.

I love these guys.