I had an epiphany in Clarkes Shoe Shop today......

[Blandmum]

......I am never going to bloody shop in them ever again.

Kids need sandels/ doodles so I took them into town and braved the dreaded Clarkes

1. the Kids stuff is at the back to the shop, so we had to flog our way through womant fingering beige sandels.
2. We took out ticket and waited and waited and waited.
3. We were finaly served by a very nice child of about 12....or so it seemed to me.

'I want sandels' said I' Nice supportive ones , with good grip on the soles, and support round the foot. For playing in, not ones covered in sequins, boys will do for dd if we must'

4. She brought us trainers 5 she took the trainers away
5. She brought us two pains of sequin be-decked, strappy things suited for a bridesmaids outfit.

I sighed.

Measure ds for doodles.

They had none in his size!

HELLS BELLS AND BUCKETS OF BLOOD!

It is the summer and they have no summer stock!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AND she tutted at me when I regected the trainers!

I'm a start rite mum from now on.

I think it's time we had a Cause Again, MB. Our black and white spines will stiffen!

(so to speak)

LOL

Black and Wite spines indeed!

I am another that finds it incredible that shops are full of back to school stuff when they haven't even finished. We are on holiday the last two weeks in August and I know that I can't risk leaving it until September to get DS kitted out. Just what I need when I am trying to plan/pack for the hols - trailing round shoe/clothes shops with the wide/high footed, short legged shopper from hell AKA by lovely DS.

And, no, sadly uniform does not save me money. When DS was at nursery his clothes were largely supplied as Christmas/birthday presents and hand-me-downs. Now I have to buy the uniform and he wrecks it at an alarming and unprecedented rate.

oh, I'm with you one this. Tried to buy DS2 (1.1) his first pair of shoes a couple of days ago but when it came down to it I couldn't bring myself to part with the cash for them. They were black and hideous. Apart from the fact that it's 30 degrees outside and they don't have any more Summer stock. He's a baby, not a City banker, ffs. (That's what I told them, apart from the very last part).

Get him a pair of washable soft Doodles, Lionheart. Much nicer for summer.

If they had any left, of course, sorry.

And anyway how did they come to have such a monopoly when they fall so short of the mark?

dds first pair of shoes were doodles.

sigh 8 years ago!

They had one pair of doodles left, a size and a half too big but the assistant thought she'd try them on "just in case" (Yep, just in case he had a phenomenal growth spurt while I was waiting for my ticket to be called).

They have loads of doodles in the sale for £5 atm.

I boycott Clarsk and have done for 5 years.

I once bought DS1 a pair of Doodles, he wore then once and they give him blisters, I brought then back and the manager refused tochange them or give me a refund, as He said I should ahve known to put socks on with them.

At this point in a very polite, firm rasied voice.. I pointed out as I had a master degree in Economica, I have a good grasp of English and that I do not see an instruction anywhere telling me doodles can only be woren with socks.

He then tols me some shoes are like that and just rub.... in same voice I pointed out shoes rub if they are poorly made or poorly fitted...ans seeing as they did both then they are a fault.

We then had a bit of a stand-off.... point of principle for me now... and I refused to budge until he give me my refund

We have to buy Start Rites or Kickers for DD1 b/c they're the only ones who make a C width shoe.

Yeah. The sandals are £34.

Message withdrawn

my ds1 who is 3 has size 10/11 feet. tyring to get age appropriate shoes for him is just awful. i knew you can by start rite on the web. we have to go to independant shops to get anyting remotely toddler like.

In an attempt to avoid Clarks I've been to Brantano this afternoon to try and get ds some trainers. I know it was unreasonable of me to narrow the choice by wanting velcro fastenings and no Saint George's crosses/footballs/lions or other Engerland emblems but I expected to find more than 3 pairs in his size. There were no sandals at all in his size. We ended up with a Nike pair out of desperation but all the time I was standing in the queue I was wondering if I could bear to put ds in the car and drive all the way to Clarks instead, with all the trauma of finding parking on a Saturday. Does anyone in Brighton know where Startrite shoes are sold? They used to have them in Adams in Churchill sq but now that's gone I don't know where else to try.

I took ds in to Clarks a couple of weeks ago to try sandals. I explained that I preferred the more closed in type of toe because he is very prone to tripping and has poor coordination. The girl measured him and then brought out a pair so long on him I could get two fingers width between his toe and the end of the sandal. I think a clown would have had trouble walking in them without tripping I'm afraid you can only go so far with the 'growing room' sales pitch!

pixel - I would be overjoyed with a choice of 3 for DS.

TooTicky that is a lovely website. Thank you. I think I will be giving them a try for my winter shoes as I have wide feet and possibly a funny shaped heel as I often have Achilles tendon trouble. I like their boys' shoes too, but I did notice that although the website tells you how to send in your size by drawing around the foot, it doesn't tell you how to make a 2-year old stand still for long enough to do that.

I occassionaly buy Clarks shoes but not from a clarks shop. I usually get them from Jones the Bootmaker. I find it staggering that Clarks boast that they do all sizes in 55 different widths but when you go in you're offered sandals in March and boots in August and sorry we haven't got anything else in your size. 'You want Sandals? well you should have come in before June as we've sold out and won't be getting anymore stock' Great thanks! - I'll predict what I think my childs shoe size will be around about Febuary time.

I feel similar about childrens clothes that after christmas you don't seem to be able to buy winter clothes only shorts and t-shirts. Crazy!

It is so utterly liberating when you realise you don't have to buy shoes from Clarkes, isn't it? Like the first time you stop reading a book half way through and realise you don't have to read all the way to the end if the characters and plot are boring you senseless. Just one of those things that adds to your quality of life...

love your post caligula

How right you are Caligula

bran, you could do a paint footprint and make it fun!

i am hacked off again at clarks. dd3 has had a lovely pair of shoes from them for well over a month now, i mentioned to MIL that they looked too wide and too big, but i couldnt find the receipt. i took her to measured again, this time they measured half a size smaller and two width fittings smaller as well.

so dd3 is a 3.5D not a 4F that had been sold to me.

so will be shopping at john lewis's in future as thats the only othyer shoe shop in town that do fitted shoes.