Finding Shiekh shoes in San Francisco
The first thing I look at on a guy if I think I might be interested in him is his shoes because they can tell you a lot about a person. That’s probably why I love to buy new shoes all the time. I wear all kinds of crazy looking, off the wall, out of the ordinary—and don’t get me wrong sometimes ordinary—shoes. So when I found Shiekh shoe store on Mission Street I was like a fat kid in a cake shop—unsupervised.
I am a graduate student with no income so I’m always trying to find a bargain. But I always want more shoes. When I went into Shiekh I picked out about seven pairs I wanted to try on. It sounds like a lot, seven pairs of shoes. But when the average price is $35, seven doesn’t seem like such a high number. In fact, for that price you could get one pair of Stuart Weitzman’s, or half a pair of Cesare Paccioti’s, or perhaps a glimpse on the sales rack at Manolo Blahnik. Even DSW (which I love) still has shoes in the $400 price range. Shiekh is offering something that most people who love to shop absolutely need right now—a bargain.
Always be skeptical if it seems too good to be true I say. And I’m not a fan of cheap shoes. But the shoes at Shiekh are actually not cheap, they’re just inexpensive. You should always be selective of the materials and cut of an inexpensive shoe if you’re going to buy it. So when I went in I picked up the shoes I thought were the cutest and carefully examined them on and off my feet to make sure they wouldn’t look cheap and imitation, or give me corns and blisters.
I left with three purchases that day, the most expensive of them only $55. I got one pair of sandals—because I love to buy things out of season, one pair of peep toe stilettos, and one pair of high boots. The friendly and patient salesgirl was also nice enough to give me a small discount just because I asked (never feel bad about asking for a discount if you’re cleaning out the store!). And since buying them I can’t decide which pair is my favorite.
I had my eye on more shoes so I plan on going back. Someone also told me that there’s a Shiekh on Telegraph in Berkeley. Then I remembered passing it a number of times and never being intrigued by what I saw. Word to the visual merchandising team—it matters! Now that I know of the great possibilities there I’ll go in. And I hope to get plenty of sweet delights my second time around.