After Christmas Sale shopping for shoes, boot, and clogs is a popular event.  Savvy shoppers know the best selection on sale shoes can be had by shopping as early as you can.  To help you out with this we’ve taken additional markdowns on sale shoes from Dansko, Merrell, Keen, Naot, Brooks, New Balance and more.  The sale prices are all updated on our web site sale page and they are ready for purchasing as I write this.  If you’ve been checking out that special Dansko on sale, maybe a Keen hiking boot, running shoe or any other footwear need, you just might find the right shoe for a bargain price. 

Before you know it our vendors will be shipping us spring sandals and shoes and we need to move out the old inventory to make room. 

There are still a lot of great shoes, boots, and clogs on sale but they will go fast  so come on in or jump online and make sure you don’t miss out on our sale.

Happy Holidays!

Alan

This fall we ran a “Dansko Intensification Project” in which we brought in a bunch of Dansko clogs, boots, and casual shoes that we normally wouldn’t carry.  We even brought in some men’s Dansko to help round out our sales.  This is the second year now that we’ve beefed up our already large Dansko inventory and sent out postcards to all our loyal local customers to alert you all about the new fall arrivals.  Dansko has long been a favorite shoe for people with foot pain or who just want a great comfortable she to wear while they are out and about.  The support and comfort these shoes offer make them a great work shoe for anyone logging long hours on their feet.  Our sales rep says we have the biggest selection of Dansko in the entire northwest during this event.

I’ve been buying shoes for a long time and feel like I have a good idea of what our customers will like.  I also know you always need to push the envelope… and push we did!  We already carry a huge selection of their clogs and boots but this year when we got together with our sales rep to plan out our fall season, we incorporated even more clogs and boots than we added to the mix last year.  We even added in some styles I didn’t think we would sell very well because I got some assurances that Dansko would help us on the back end if things didn’t work the way we hoped they would.  By the time it was said and done I think we had just about every Dansko in the fall line in store.  The reaction by you, our customers, was FABULOUS!   Thank you so much for voting yes to our promotion.  From October 1^st through today we’ve sold through most of the extra styles we brought in for the event. 

Fear not however, we do still have a lot in stock.  We always have a great selection of regular price Dansko that are ongoing styles.  Right now though if you check out our  Page“Sale Page” there’s still some that we won’t be going forward with and are currently marked down.   Get them while there hot!!

Cheers,

Alan

So now that we’ve got our third When The Shoe Fits store open, I’m trying to improve my mad skills with this web site.  I tried to post this TV spot we’re running that features Keen, Merrell, Teva, and more!!  I failed.  Let’s try this link to the You Tube page I posted to.  It’s a fun commercial you’ll see in the movies too so I hope this works….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJYsy39lrU&feature=youtu.be

Cheers!

Alan

Wow what a busy weekend!!  A HUGE thank you to all our shoe sale customers. We mailed out 16,000 of these postcards also emailed those of you on our email list that our big sale started on Friday the 2nd.  Don’t fret, we still have a bunch of  running shoes, clogs, boots, and shoes by Dansko, Keen, Merrell, New Balance, Brooks and more on sale.  Hurry in for the best selection or check our “Sale Page” online.

Cheers!

Alan

Since we really think we have a great selection of outdoor shoes, boots and sandals we thought we should let you all know!  Be watching for TV spot.  In fact you may have seen it already.  It has a movie preview feel so we are starting to show it on the big screen too!  Come on in and see the latest styles from Keen, Teva, Merrell, and more!

So by now most of you have caught wind of the latest craze – barefoot running. What was already gaining momentum was pushed over the top with the (fabulous) book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. The short version of the theory is that we were not designed to wear shoes. Our feet are no less than engineering wonders in their ability to adapt, react, and absorb impact. Well, sounds great but the reality is that most of us have been in shoes since day 139 and our world is full of hard, flat, solid surfaces that our feet were NOT designed for. Nonetheless, I love a good craze, love the idea of foot freedom, and love the idea that something – anything – could help my lackluster running. So I was off…

In August When The Shoe Fits got its first shipment of the shoe leading this brigade, Vibram’s Five Fingers. MAN are they weird looking.

 FiveFinger, Women’s KSO, Black

Being an experience runner as well as 20+ years footwear experience I know the importance of a slow transition to something this radically different from what my feet are used to. My first run in my new five fingers was 1 slow mile. Interesting, different, but not too enlightening. So I try a 2 miler. Now – I turn on some good music and trot off but somewhere about halfway in was where it happened: I let go, relaxed, stopped thinking about what I was doing and I noticed that I naturally came up on the forefoot of my feet and all of a sudden a natural gate took over that was TOTALLY unlike the ‘shuffle’ I have held dear. It was AWESOME! I felt light and fast -I likened it to being 8 years old and running after the ice cream truck on a sunny day. It was fun, free, and easy!!! I was so excited!

Then the next morning I woke up and could barely walk my calves were so tight.

Mind you, I run 30+miles a week and do several marathons a year. If 2 miles can cinch my calves up that is saying something! Since then, I have restrained myself (not one of my stronger attributes) to only one run a week and adding no more than a mile each time. This is difficult because, again, they are SO FUN! I feel like a graceful prancing deer in these things! Of course, then I run past an office building and get a glimpse of what I REALLY look like running in the reflection of a window and that dream fizzles but it’s fun for the moment. Anyway – the long and the short of it is I LOVE them. LOVE them. I love the freedom, I love the movement, I love the total connection they give you with your entire body. (I have had sore abs after a run in these. Sore abs with not one crunch? This is for me!) I also have completely new respect for how carefully one should transition in to these. I have the benefit of no foot issues: no Plantar Fasciitis, a good arch and flexible Achilles. (Sheer luck in the genetics dept.)  But as careful as I was? I still ended up with a knotted calf and Achilles issues. No fun right before a marathon, but no one’s fault but mine.

All that being said? Once I heal I plan on continuing working these in to my running and my goal is to run a full marathon in my Five Fingers in 2011. I also can’t wait to use them in my exercise classes… uhhh… once I get back in an exercise class…. Baby steps, right?” And I am SO over how weird looking they are.l One more beautiful thing about age – you really stop caring if you look different.

So we have Five Fingers, come check them out, use them CAREFULLY and enjoy!

And if you would be so kind as to send me a good thought or three on Sunday because it appears as though me and my sore Achilles are going to be running the Portland Marathon in the pouring rain. Gotta love this town!

Cheers!

Amy

Do your feet hurt?   Ever?

 They shouldn’t.   Ever.

I passionately believe that your feet don’t have to hurt. Okay, so we feel  all sexy & svelte and stuff with some great 3 1/2 inchers on but how much joy did you give away for that? When you cringe at the very thought of even crossing the room let alone dancing because the balls of your feet are on fire. Ladies – Do you know a man who would do that? For ‘shapely’ calves??? Really?   The time has come to put you and your soul first.

There is a beautiful Taoist quote that begins “When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten.” It continues on saying when the belt fits, the middle is forgotten and so forth. The point being? When it is right, there is no struggle. When you chose something that is just right for you? There is no rub, no conflict – no dilemma. This is the philosophy we have based our shoe business – actually our whole lives- on and it works. Trust me. Do not spend another moment in a situation – or with a shoe- that is causing you pain.

So if you have a foot problem of ANY sort? Come in – we can help you. If you finally want a great pair of shoes that you won’t be dying to take off at 5:48? Come in – we have it. Want cool shoes? We’ve got ‘em. And if you have already learned that you should NEVER sacrifice ANY physical comfort for some contorted idea of beauty or fashion? Come in – I just want to know you cuz you sound cool.

That’s it for today but coming soon:- My shoe picks for the month, the scoop on the greatest sock you’ll ever wear, why everyone should do a marathon in their lifetime and more …

Happy Trails!

Amy