A good store where you can try on shoes without salespeople?

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Where I live we don’t have a lot of chain stores. I used to go to Sports Authority to try on shoes without salespeople but they are gone now. I hate salespeople. They scoff at my desires to try on men’s shoes and my other preferences. They make the most annoying recommendations and I just don’t want to deal with them. I much prefer taking boxes off the shelves and trying them on myself. Even better if it’s a place with close-outs and discontinued shoes. But not crappy plastic shoes like Big 5. Are there any stores like this you can recommend? Maybe I could drive to another city if I just knew where I could go.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Diane

I sympathise. Have you noticed that most salesmen (I suppose they are ‘people’) seem to be young enough to be your children? Obviously, their level of knowledge must far exceed yours.

My wife hasn’t bought Womens shoe for decades either.

Cheers

 

[Justin Baker]

I think you are going to find that most shoes stores, unless they are a big box store with tons of inventory space, are only going to carry mens size 8 and larger. Sometimes only 8.5 and larger. So unless you are a womens 10 or larger you could have a hard time finding them.

A good salesperson has knowledge of the fit of the shoes they carry and help you narrow down your choices. When you try something on and it doesn’t fit, you give them feedback which helps them suggest a shoe that might fit better.

The knowledge of the salespeople usually depends on the type of store.

Big box stores (big 5, dicks) – terrible, huge turnover rate, employees with no knowledge, can’t tell the difference between a road shoe and a trail shoe

Good chain stores (rei) – decent, friendly employees, usually have general knowledge but not detailed knowledge.

Small specialty stores – great service, employees are very knowledgeable and will make sure you have a good fitting shoe before you leave the store

Typically the people who are knowledgeable about footwear will have an easy time getting a job at the small specialty store and would never want to work at a big box store.

I’m sorry to hear that you had bad experiences with shoes salespeople. What kind of places were you shopping at? I can’t imagine why someone at a decent outdoor shoe store would care why want to try on mens shoes.

Now another way to try on shoes is to get an amazon prime account. Most shoes have free 2 day shipping and free return shipping, so you can order a bunch of shoes just to try on and send them back for free.

[J-L]

I think you can try on shoes without a salesperson at DSW. Not sure if they have the shoes you would be looking for though

I have bought all my shoes online for the past 4 or so years. I use Running Warehouse and Zappos. They both have free shipping and free return shipping

[Daryl and Daryl]

In Seattle we have Big 5.  I buy most of my shoes there.  They will help if asked but most customers do their own thing.

[Nick Gatel]

Try this…

Ask the salesperson which shoes have a rockplate or which shoes have a heel/toe drop of less than 4mm. If they know, they probably will be helpful.

If they don’t know (which is almost guaranteed) ask to speak with the manager. Ask the manager why he or she has not trained the staff with thorough product knowledge, and tell him or her to keep the incompetent staff away from you.

Works every time for me.

Psychological Amputation is your friend.

[Lester Moore]

+1 on Nick’s comments. Another option that has worked for me is to drive to an REI flagship store on a busy Saturday afternoon in summer. The Salespeople will be so busy with all the customers that they will quickly find whatever shoe you want to try from the storage room, throw you the box, and then rush off to help the next customer with barely a word.

[Bean]

The wife seems to like to debate with the shoe salespeople at REI (I think she feels it is her duty to plant some seeds of doubt in the waterproof and/or boot dogma). Her problem is after finding a shoe on the shelf that she wants to try… they don’t ever have any left in her size.

Because of never having her size in stock, she’s fell to ordering from Zappo’s like 8 pairs to try and hope at least one pair is suitable.

 

 

[David Thomas]

One reason shoes are less self-service than other items is the people try to swap sizes to match their disparate-sized feet. A well-run store like REI has the cash-register clerks check every pair of stores they ring up to confirm they match, but big-box stores can’t manage that.

[Ian]

I’ve been lucky that I’ve found the perfect pair of shoes for my feet and my feet have stopped growing.  If I could ever find them on sale, I could stock up on size 47 La Sportiva Wildcats v 1.0 and be content for the rest of my life.

Is the issue that you still haven’t found the perfect pair of shoes or just curiosity of what’s new in the market?

Side note, thanks to all for suggesting mens shoes for women.  My daughter has had a heck of a time finding comfortable hiking shoes so we’re going to try mens shoes to see if they fit her better.

[Ken Thompson]

I miss shoes stores with a wide selection to choose from. Salespeople, not so much. Now that I wear a size 15 online shopping at the clown shoe store is the only option. At least Altra makes some 15s.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Anywhere that has a salesperson is always a problem. I mostly want to see what’s out there. Often the medium-budget shoes end up working out really well because they’ll have more sizes. Or closeouts because nobody wants mens size 7-8, which is what I can wear. REI is sometimes good for this if I look through their sales stuff, but usually it’s all mens size 12 or above and women’s size 5. Sports Authority was great because they would have mens shoes in smaller sizes and they would have decent brands.

[Clifford Deakyne]

+1 on checking out a DSW.  Self service is their sales model.  On the east coast, they have a reasonable selection of running shoes, hiking shoes and hiking boots.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I’ll have to see if there’s a DSW nearby. Maybe there’s a famous footwear somewhere too, or whatever it’s called. I once got a good pair of shoes there during my PCT hike. I also keep forgetting we have those stores at the Deckers HQ. Maybe there’s something in there.

[Author]

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