The Cliche is True

You know the one...you get what you pay for?

I get my kids' shoes at a specialty children's shoe store nearby. We started going there because DS needed orthotics and they were recommended to me by his physical therapist as being honest and good fitters, and we've stayed because the service has always been excellent. Nobody's ever tried to sell me anything I didn't need and they've always been straight-up with me about whether my kids needed new shoes or not.

I took DD there today because she came home from school on Friday with blisters on her pinky toes. "Shoes too tight," I thought. She wore her slightly-larger dress shoes all weekend, and we took the offending sneakers in today for a fit check.

They're still the right size. The gentleman who was helping us sort of shook his head and went and got a manager. She looked. Yep, right size. She felt all inside the shoe, looked at DD's socks, the works.

"I can't explain it," she said to me. "They fit. But they shouldn't be giving her blisters." I pointed out that the shoes are nine months old (my kids' feet grow in massive, immediate spurts about once a year). She shook her head again. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Shouldn't happen."

She then took my daughter over to the rack of pink and sparkly sneakers and they chose a pair and fit them. Same size as the others. "We're going to take half off these for you, OK?" she said.

Um, yeah OK! New shoes at half off because these relatively ancient ones are falling apart? You bet!

You see why I'm loyal to this store. Yeah, I pay a little more--about Stride Rite prices. But you don't get that kind of service just anywhere. They stand behind their stuff, no matter the age and no matter the condition. And without me asking them to.

Too bad the rest of the world doesn't work that way, huh?

For those in the area, the store is Shoe Train at Cabin John Mall. They're fantastic.