I tried to shop for school shoes for my daughter last week. Athlete's Foot - after I suggested to her that she should measure the feet she concluded my daughter was a C width and advised me this was a very narrow foot???

Then we went to Myers. There were kids clothes strewn everywhere, the assistants ignored us while they chatted at the till, daughter had to sit among unhoovered debris to get her feet measured. They'd lost the tape to measure the width but the assistant was unbothered by this, she popped a pair of shoes on daughter and then looked up at me expectantly as if to ask "do they fit?". I had to do the checks myself!!! I swear she was learning from me! Meantime Hubby who is a shop manager was overcome by an urge to straighten hangers and pick clothes up off the floor and is surepticiously doing so, so it was a bonus day for Myers.

Is a relaxed attitude to fitting a Wollongong thing? Mabye they've all been wearing things too long?

Do you not have a Betts kids near you. When my kids were small I got them from there. Now they are older they just wear trainers to school so don't need to go through all the measuring thing.

I dont know why the bother measuring hte width anyway - they only seem to come in one width anyway.

I find shops here and in the uk are one way or another - all over you like a rash or disinterested. I hate shoe shopping. my little girls wears a plastic leg support afo so I have to buy 2 pairs in different sizes. takes ages for width etc and I wish they would just get me all the sizes and just leave me alone instead of trying to tell me what size to get because the foot size is kind of irrelevant so I cant guess it beforehand.

I got dead twitchy in the beginning with the lack of 'proper' foot care here when it came to my kids....after years and years of meticulous measuring and clarkes shoes.

After a while I found a favourite place (think it was Betts too) and relaxed a bit.

Sounds like you had a particulary bad run of shop 'staff' though

Myers? Christ, I may as well chuck $20 notes into the fire ...

it's hard to get my youngest to put shoes on her feet so Volley;s for school are a big bonus never mind getting feet measured for length & width!

Lynn x

Thanks for the tip about Betts, I think the nearest to me is Bondi so it might become a regular school hol beach/shoe shop trip.

Has anyone been to that store?

I love the look of volleys, like the sand shoes I used to wear for gym at school but I haven't seen any girls at our school wearing them so chances of daughter wearing them are nil, she likes to fit it.

Half of me wants to use the measurements I got done here and order online from Clarks UK, the other half of me is yelling....you live in Australia now!, this is what's available here!, get over it!!

There is a Betts in Miranda which is closer to you than Bondi. There is also a Shoes & Sox in Miranda which is where I get most of our daughters' shoes - they even stock Clarks. They always measure well, and are quite happy to try loads of shoes on. Our eldest has very narrow feet and slim ankles, so if I go too big (you know how they advise you to go a size bigger) she spends half her time tripping over. That particular shoe shop is the only one that has ever paid attention to that and fitted her with shoes that fit both the front of her feet and her ankles.

In Perth, I have found Murray's good for children's shoes and used to go to the shop in Ocean Reef. More recently we've been buying their trainers for school at Jim Kidd's at Harbour Town. This year we had to buy lace-ups for high school and bought them at Betts Kids at Harbour Town, where the older male assistant was amazingly helpful.

I must have been lucky, I took mine to Peter jones Wollongong, they were really good, nice girl who seemed to know her stuff, attentive, put up with my fussy kids, proper fitting machine thingy etc. Plus clarks shoes 30% off.

But have found most shop assistants in Wollongong prefer to chat to each other rather than assist! So maybe it is a Gong thing.

Williams Shoes measure kids feet properly. My son has narrow feet and I always manage to get him sorted for school shoes there, price is reasonable too. He has to have black leather lace-ups.
Link to NSW stores http://www.williamstheshoemen.com.au...cator.aspx?p=2

I think you were lucky, when I've been there I've had to do a search for an assistant even before I could look for shoes!

You could be right about the assistants and what about the time it takes to get a coffee, usually beautifully made but takes forever. My pal and I were having lunch in Thirroul last week and I asked would it come in time to make our train in 20 minutes. The assistant said the food would be no problem but he wasn't sure they could make the coffee in time

Yes I think it is a Gong thing, I went for breakfast in Bulli the other day, eggs on toast arrived in 5 mins coffee followed 25mins later!!!

re: shoes, maybe I have been lucky I normally avoid Saturdays so I guess that helps. Pre the start of term the Peter J shoe department had a ticket system so you were seen in turn, we were early so didn't have to wait. We are still new to the Gong so haven't found anywhere else good for shoes yet.

OMG 25mins, that's excessive! I was at the one on the highway in Bulli one day and asked for tea. It came without milk. I asked for milk....you'd have thought I'd just asked her to go out and personally milk the cow!! What a look she gave me! then she asked me in disgust if I wanted skimmed or normal, very embarrasing infront of visiting relatives I wanted to be impressed with our new location

In their defence I better also say the guy (manager/owner?) is lovely and always very welcoming.