Welcome Springfield Bloggers!

(This was originally posted in January, but we hadn't found you yet!)

Election 2008 -- ShoeTopia Style!
As you may or may not know, we at ShoeTopia put a lot of thought into the shoes we select for our store. You're probably thinking, "Well how hard is that? It's retail, not brain surgery, for Lord's sakes!" Well, this may be true, and in no way am I suggesting that any of us could do brain surgery (except for maybe Cindy -- she is addicted to all those medical shows on the learning channel). But let me throw some numbers out to give you an idea of what we have to sort through to bring the shoes to you. At the upcoming Las Vegas WSA (World Shoe Association) trade show, there are over 1,100 registered exhibitors. Now granted, not all of them are exhibiting women's shoes, but the vast majority of them are. So let's whittle that down to 75%, which gives us about 850. And let's say that the average number of shoe styles each vendor is exhibiting is 50. That's well over 42,000 possibilities to chose from (not to mention the colors). Which is why we don't always go to Las Vegas to shop -- it's just overwhelming at times. So in order to prepare for our shopping trip, we do our research, which consists of weeding out brands, adding new brands, reviewing current trends (and some are just plain goofy), and making sure we have a fair representation of styles and prices to offer our customers. The most important thing is coming up with a budget and sticking to it.

We've done pretty well with our Spring 2008 orders, but every once in a while, we come across a shoe that's just oh so cute, and we just want it. It's kind of like going to the grocery store with a list and then darn it, you go down the cookie aisle and there's a new kind of chocolate cookie that sounds so good, and you just got to have it, but you told yourself you were going to stick to your list, and then you have the good girl angel on one shoulder trying to convince you to stick to your diet and the bad girl devil saying, "Do it do it do it." And you are stuck in the middle. Well wouldn't it be nice if once in a while, someone else stepped in and helped you make the decision ? The following scenarios help illustrate my point. Scenario A: [Amy's buddy] "Why don't you skip the cookies and we'll go get a skinny latte instead?" Scenario B: [Amy's buddy] "If you get the cookies I'll help you eat them." See, isn't that better? Even if you do get the cookies, you won't have to worry about eating them all by yourself. Not that you would (cough, cough). So we decided to ask you to help us make the decision. The shoe that we're highlighting in February is Onesole, a sandal with interchangeable tops. You will find a link to the company website at the top of our blog page. What do you think? Either send as a note or take our poll at the bottom of the blog. And thanks for your input!Amy

Election 2008 -- ShoeTopia Style!

As you may or may not know, we at ShoeTopia put a lot of thought into the shoes we select for our store. You're probably thinking, "Well how hard is that? It's retail, not brain surgery, for Lord's sakes!" Well, this may be true, and in no way am I suggesting that any of us could do brain surgery (except for maybe Cindy -- she is addicted to all those medical shows on the learning channel). But let me throw some numbers out to give you an idea of what we have to sort through to bring the shoes to you. At the upcoming Las Vegas WSA (World Shoe Association) trade show, there are over 1,100 registered exhibitors. Now granted, not all of them are exhibiting women's shoes, but the vast majority of them are. So let's whittle that down to 75%, which gives us about 850. And let's say that the average number of shoe styles each vendor is exhibiting is 50. That's well over 42,000 possibilities to chose from (not to mention the colors). Which is why we don't always go to Las Vegas to shop -- it's just overwhelming at times. So in order to prepare for our shopping trip, we do our research, which consists of weeding out brands, adding new brands, reviewing current trends (and some are just plain goofy), and making sure we have a fair representation of styles and prices to offer our customers. The most important thing is coming up with a budget and sticking to it. We've done pretty well with our Spring 2008 orders, but every once in a while, we come across a shoe that's just oh so cute, and we just want it. It's kind of like going to the grocery store with a list and then darn it, you go down the cookie aisle and there's a new kind of chocolate cookie that sounds so good, and you just got to have it, but you told yourself you were going to stick to your list, and then you have the good girl angel on one shoulder trying to convince you to stick to your diet and the bad girl devil saying, "Do it do it do it." And you are stuck in the middle. Well wouldn't it be nice if once in a while, someone else stepped in and helped you make the decision ? The following scenarios help illustrate my point. Scenario A: [Amy's buddy] "Why don't you skip the cookies and we'll go get a skinny latte instead?" Scenario B: [Amy's buddy] "If you get the cookies I'll help you eat them." See, isn't that better? Even if you do get the cookies, you won't have to worry about eating them all by yourself. Not that you would (cough, cough). So we decided to ask you to help us make the decision. The shoe that we're highlighting in February is Onesole, a sandal with interchangeable tops. You will find a link to the company website at the top of our blog page. What do you think? Either send as a note or take our poll at the bottom of the blog. And thanks for your input!
Amy

Funky Feet Club

Since we really haven't had a chance to work on our blog (things have been CA-RAZY since we started!) we've decided to finally hunker down and start writing. I (Callista, the lowly employee) am writing the first one since I am a writer and I have the least responsibility in the store. So, let the stories begin!

On top of being the first blogger of the ShoeTopia women, I have also recently taken charge of what I like to call, "Funky Feet Club." Aaaaaaamy doesn't like the name, but it seems that it has stuck nevertheless. What is the Funky Feet Club you ask? It is a club we have started for people with hard-to-fit-feet, a.k.a. big feet, small feet, narrow feet, and wide feet.

Here's what we've been doing. When we come across someone that has a hard time finding their shoe size, we take down their name, shoe size, and e-mail address. When we get a shoe in that is included on the Funky Feet Club list, we send an e-mail (with pictures) to everyone with that shoe size. They can come in and try it on if they like it, and if they don't like it, they can just delete the e-mail. It's a no-pressure zone.

What started the idea? Karen (one of our owners) has a size 5 foot and we had a hard time finding cute shoes to fit her. Imagine owning a shoe store and not being able to find shoes in your own store to fit your feet! We had numerous inquiries about hard-to-find-shoe-sizes. And that is when the idea for the Funky Feet Club was born.

If you have any interest in the Funky Feet Club, e-mail us at shoetopia@insightbb.com. We can add you to our mailing list!

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. It's time for me to go back to the slave-driving boss of mine. She's probably going to make me do something REALLY tedious like headstands on the hardwood floors. . .