While cleaning my shoes today (yes, I do regularly wipe down and polish my shoes on Sundays… call it soul, er, “sole” cleansing) I came upon an epiphany. If I continue doing a shoe from my collection on a weekly basis, I’ll run out of Sunday “Shoe of the Week” posts before the end of the year. That means my blog expires in less than a year! While I would love to feature a shoe per week for many years on end, I am no Imelda Marcos. Although for the record, she did state “I did not have three thousand (3,000) pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty (1,060).” There it is, she could write a shoe blog for 20 years without featuring the same shoe.
Yesterday I visited Marshalls, a store offering designer items at a discount. Marshalls finally ventured onto the Canadian retail scene on April 4th 2013, when they opened 7 stores across Canada. This particular store just opened in South Vancouver and can be found on 8137 Ontario Street (at the intersection with Marine Drive). We drove into the new complex housing a Best Buy and Canadian Tire (Starbucks was there too!) and checked out the new Marshalls. My first impression was that this store very much resembled Winners, another designer discount store. To the left of the entrance was the Shoe Section, where I instantly made a beeline towards. My attention was captivated by a “Wall of Designer Lust”. Gucci! Dior! Valentino! Tod’s! Coach! This wall section had only luxury shoes from high-end designers. I saw a group of women just standing before the wall, obviously drawn to it like flies to honey. We all stood there… transfixed. Mesmerized. Everyone murmured how expensive the retail price tag was on these shoes. No one dared to touch the display shoes, for fear of ruining the moment. I, of course, instantly snapped a couple of pictures and slipped the Valentinos on my feet. YOLO (You Only Live Once). That started the shoe frenzy, lol. Fun times. :)
The first picture features a Dior patent leather sandal with stiletto high heels. It has a noticeable leather covered platform and a T-strap (very trendy for this spring) design with 3D metal and leather cutout flowers adorning it. In the middle of the central flower was a “CD” logo imprinted into the metal button, in case you missed it was “Deee-Orrrrrrr”. Leather insoles and leather soles. The black patent leather was so shiny it was simply scrumptious!
Retail = $700
Discount Price = $499.99 Canadian plus 12% tax = $559.99
The second picture features a Valentino rockstud leather slingback sandal, also with stiletto high heels. Favorite child of fashion bloggers and fashion magazine editors alike, this strappy nude sandal with gold-tone studded leather straps captured my heart. We all know that nude skintone colored shoes elongate the line of one’s leg, giving a slimming effect that is usually best achieved by lengthy sessions on the treadmill. Instant long legs? Yes, please.
Retail = $550
Discount Price = $399.99 Canadian plus 12% tax = $447.99
Now, the real question begs to be asked and answered. Are these discounted prices really a great deal? Could you not find the same prices at Holt Renfrew during their seasonal sales? What about shoe sales on websites that offer online shopping to Canadians like Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom? Ebay? I walked away from the store empty handed that day. The shoes are absolutely beautiful… on the shelf.
Filed under: Shoe of the Week! :D, Shoes and Sole Mates, Shopping Deals n Steals Tagged: best buy, Blog, canada, canadian tire, designer, dior, Footwear, frenzy, Heels, high heels, holt renfrew, imelda marcos, leather, luxury, marshalls, neiman marcus, nordstrom, patent leather, sandals, Shoe, shoe of the week, shoes, shopping, spring, starbucks, stilettos, studded, style, t-strap, valentino, valentino rockstud, Vancouver, yolo
