Hello, I have spent more than 20 years working in the footwear industry. I was the third generation of my family to work in the retail shoe business and had the advantage of almost 100 years of combined expertize to learn from. Our shoe stores were family owned and centered around quality brands and top notch customer service. If you purchased a pair of shoes in one of our stores you could be confident that you were getting the proper size and width every time.

This was accomplished by carefully measuring both of every customer's feet for length and width as well as basic foot structure. If you are lucky enough to have a shoe store like this in your area consider yourself extremely fortunate. Today, most brick and mortar shoe retailers will only hire people just out of High School that are willing to work for minimum wage. Although these workers may be very nice and courteous they have zero knowledge about the complexities of proper shoe fitting. In most cases the average shoe store employee will simply ask you what your shoe size is and then hand you the box. That is if they have your size in stock. How many times have you been told “we don't have your size is stock but we can special order it for you”. You are then looking at twice the gas, time and hassle just to purchase a pair of shoes.

When you combine all this, online shoe shopping starts to look very attractive. Brick and mortar shoe stores also have to deal with very large overhead expenses that are ultimately passed on to you, the consumer. Today’s online shoe retailers have gone to great lengths to make online shoe shopping as easy as possible. The best online shoe retailers offer free shipping for all purchases and free return shipping with no questions asked return polices. Because of their lower overhead and operating costs they can warehouse many more brands, styles and sizes than conventional shoe stores, often at significantly lower prices.

If you wear a common shoe size in a medium or regular width, you will usually have a decent selection to choose from in a traditional shoe store. If however, you wear a less common size you already know how limited your choices can be. For Women that wear a size 6 or smaller or a size 10 or larger, your choices are always limited. The same goes for Men that have a shoe size smaller than a size 9 or larger than a size 12. For both Men and Women with narrow or wide feet your selection in a typical mall type shoe store is limited to a few styles at best. Once again because of thier lower operating costs, online shoe retailers can afford to stock many more styles, brands and patterns in hard to find sizes.

Almost all of the major online shoe retailers now carry a full line of accessories like handbags, wallets, belts, socks and shoe care products. Many of these online retailers also carry full clothing lines from some of today’s top designers. This allows the online shopper to do all of their shopping from the comfort of their own home. The benefits of online shopping are getting better all the time. Shopping online is now safer in many ways than going to your local mall or shopping center. The latest security technology used by the top online retailers is far more advanced than most traditional stores. Due to thier lower operating costs online retailers can sell thier products at a better price and in most cases local and state sales taxes are not charged saving you even more of your hard earned money.

When you combine the time you will save by shopping from your own home, the stress you will alleviate by not fighting traffic and crowded malls, and the much larger selection of brands, sizes, colors and styles available with online retailers, the benefits speak for themselves. So grab your favorite beverage, put on your comfy clothes and enjoy all the possibilities online shopping has to offer.

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