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.

if you are anywhere near the SW of England, there is a Clarks village like a retail park - it has a clarks in it and loads of other shops selling stuff at discounted prices. It is the ultimate in unstressful shoe shopping - basically a warehouse full of shoes on racks, all of them displayed by shoe size. You (or your child) can try them on at your leisure (no waiting for tickets etc.)! They can measure the feet there (but for that, I think you take a ticket) so it's worth getting them measure in advance and then going and trying to find shoes you like. If you can't find any, they do have a shop with the newer shoes on sale.

We are quite lucky in London - esp here in the SW (don't know what it is like anywhere else) - have loads of independent (though pricey) shoe shops.

i like clarks and have aslwasy had good shoes form there
yo lot are mad

We buy all ours from Clarks village, they have doodles for £5 and in loads of sizes, bought dd1 a pair of shoes for £7 last week.

it's great isn't it?!! I make a special trip there on the way down to Cornwall - hopefully I'll find mine both school shoes there this year! Last year I got ds a fantastic pair of trainers and football shoes (the astroturf ones) for £10 each. Was very pleased.

I stopped shopping there a few years ago.They had such limited stock they could never find shoes for my twin DS's who have exactly the same size feet,in exactly the same width fitting.They wouldn't even order ones I wanted,even though I offered to leave a deposit.
They are a complete waste of time.

John Lewis are great for kids' shoes - full fitting service and a range of shoes including Clarks and others. The one time I actually went into Clarks, it turned out to be a branch that didn't have a children's section. Grrr.

Though I did wonder why in John Lewis the children's shoes are in such an inaccessible part of the shop, and the assistant told me it's because it means the kids have further to run to escape/reach the door to the street! A good reason I thought.

Foxinsocks......nooooooo.....don't recommend the clarfs village at street.......

I took all my five there two years ago, and DS2 was measured with some shoes, and fitted. I did think at the time that there was something 'not quite right' looking about the size, but trusted them.

DS2 spent the summer banged and bruised and me convinced he had some co-ordination problem..

Turned out he was measured a whole 2 sizes out, as were two of my others. And it wasn't stress free going either....there were tons and tons of harassed mums and screaming kiddies.
I have tried it once since, more just in case they were just having a bad day before.....same problam again, but at least this time I was more prepared and ready to fight my corner.

won't be buying shoes there again......on the other hand, they do have a next outlet and so I like to go for me and with no kiddies.

oooh, and a body shop outlet, and a cadburys (yummy[win]!!)

MB, I have only read your opening post so i don't know if anyone has explained this already but I feel compelled to tell you something I have picked up from 10 years of child shoe shopping:

If you want summer shoes, you need to go to the shop in April, no later.

If you want new school shoes for September, don't wait until the end of August, thinking your chld's feet might grow over the summer if you buy too early, because by then end of August there will be no more school shoes left. I don't know when you buy them - probably after Christmas and just guess at the size your child will be by September - you can't be further out than the so-called trained fitter who rarely measures my children's feet within one size of accuracy.

Just to add tho.....took both DS's to barrets today at castlepoint as their sandles had both managed to break (they were shoe zone ones tho, bought in desperation for our hols 2wks ago and none left in clarks).

Barrets had sandles for both, in suede, and they let me fit them as I am their mummy(mind you, that was also lazyness on their part as both were teens and the boss on break).

£18 for both and well spent IMO. ......well, unless they break in the next week that si of course....!!!!

There is a good shop in Melksham called Splosh run by a lovely lady who knows what she's doing, stocks Startrite and some continental brands, and won't sell you something that isn't right. Power to the small, independent, honest retailer!
Also, One Small Step in Bath - mostly excellent but they did let me down badly once (ds2 bleeding by the time he'd worn his new shoes for 20 minutes, but they did refund with no quibble).

I went into clarkes the other week for some doodles, to be told that they did not have them in dd2's size and would not be getting anymore as they are getting the winter stock in now

OOhhh - I hate shopping for children's shoes! I bought summer shoes for dd around Easter because I wanted choice dammit! And of course, as I eagerly pulled out the sandals the other day ready for summer break......lovely dd complained that they were no longer comfortable.... So, here it is high summer - and she needs another pair of shoes, and there's nothing in the shops.

We're now away for summer, and I already bought her school shoes for September (half a size larger than current shoes) because my local branches never seem to keep any depth of stock - even in "they're classic, everyone wants them" school shoes. I have never, ever gone into a shop to buy a pair of school shoes and walked out with them in hand. Maybe real estate is so dear in central London that they don't waste space with stock rooms? Special order everytime.....

Oooh, I love that shop in Bath, Tooticky.

And I know the lady that owns Splosh, well, sort of, i knew her sons form DD1's nursery.

Do you live in Melksham?

We're in Seend, LittleRach.

Ahh, my friend is doing the car boot there today.

I have never used Clarks since, upon taking DD for her 1st pair of "real" shoes when she started walking, was told - in very haughty tones by some hatchet faced old bag - that her wide feet were due to the fact I had not bought her in earlier !!!!

.... never mind the fact if she wasn't walking she didn't need "real" shoes.

Was told (off) that her feet had "spread" because she'd been wearing soft bootee type slippers/shoes until then.

And that was why apparently they didn't have anything to fit her !

My hackles still rise whenever I recall this and SO SO wish that I'd dragged her supercilious a**e through the mire with her superiors.

DD isn't BigFoot ........... we went to a Startrite shop and got (much nicer) shoes anyway.

Catsmother, that's awful!
LittleRach, so were my dp and dd1!

John Lewis measured DS1's feet totally wrong - both in length and width fitting. Said he was a 6F when he was a 5G.

Clarks have always been really good for him - never had a problem with them fitting him, they've turned us away in the past when his feet haven't grown (they grow very slowly but I get them checked every couple of months!).

My local clarks has the childrens shoes upstairs.....with no lift...needless to say they will never get out business. John Lewis are far better.

Don't be too mad at Clarks. It's not their fault that they don't carry full summer stock during the summer. A retail bod once explained it to me: thge reason you get 'back to school' in August (or even sometimes before school breaks up in July! ), and Xmas stock before Halloween, si that all the shops are competing to be the first to have the New Season stuff, so that they don't lose customers because of not being up-to-date. Cra-zeeee!

Wellies in spring? Sandals in July? Boots in January? Not a hope! I have the same problem if I want to by a swimsuit (for myself) in the winter - the shops only have sequined, expensive, I'm-off-on-a-cruise-at-the-age-of-62-to-find-myself-a-toyboy swimsuits. Oops, this is turning into a rant as well.

Unfortunately, only Clarks ever seem to fit my two. And Clarks' staff advise and service is very variable (to put it politely). Fortunately John Lewis advice is excellent, and if a shoe disintegrates too soon, or doesn't fit well, then they refund or exchange without any issues.

We haven't got a John Lewis

We go to Clarkes Village - but only before 10am otherwise it is hell. But paying a lot less makes the whole thing much less painful.

I don't rely on measurements when I get my kids shoes. I get them measured but only use that as a rough guide - when they try them on it's easy enough to see if they fit or not. I get Doodles for my youngest and had them for all the others when they were little. I wil confess to going to cheap shoes shops these days for some pairs - as long as they fit OK what's the odds?

Dare I tell you that I was a manager for Clarks before I had dd

[ducks down....]

one of the reasons the shoes are normally at the back of the shop or upstairs downstairs is safety.
Obviously the other reason is that Womens shoes make the most money for them and then comes kids and mens being last so the money making dept has to be in a primary position.
Not that we care as parents though

Summer stock is a nightmare too. Having said that, you could g'tee there is a always one style every season that they don't predict will be a success but is and therefore they don't/can't get enough stock in to cope with demand.
Doodles were always a bugger to keep good stock of.

And as for the assistant, sounds like she needs a hell of alot more training!

I guess that makes you feel ten times better now doesn't it?

I'd also like to point out that this year dd's sandals came from Next and her Doodles type shoes came from Mothercare

At our local Clarks the children's shoes are on the ground floor, with the youngest stuff a tthe very back of the shop, and, apart from some 'teasers' to get people into the shop, all the adult shoes are upstairs!

The manager must have children .

MB and MI I am rofl at this thread.

But I do agree with you.
We have a lovely local non-crowded no-hideous-ticket-machine well-trained-staff shop near to us that does Clarks, and they do a super loyalty card (buy 10, get a pair free - we are on to our 4th free pair I think ).
And yet, and yet...
All 3 of mine have Start-Rite shoes this sumer. Clarks just didn't do a school shoe for 7yo ds1 that was summery at all; the girls ones for DD were too fussy; and the only summer shoe (not open-toed sandal) for 3yo ds2 would, the staff agreed, never fit his foot. So off to start-rite we went, 3 times. £38 a throw weeehew. Luuuuurve ds1's in partic tho.
We did still get Doodles (tho they don't make them for ds1's size) and trainers for ds1 so still working towards our free pairs. But yes, I agree the stock is ludicrous in many ways. I hate patent leather for girls, and why are so many of the shoes so silly and fussy? (oh yes MI, and PINK)