It was time to go shopping for shoes again. I am walking quite a lot and the sole of my sneakers are worn out. Apart from that, I didn’t like them much anyway. So, I had two reasons to look for new ones. While I generally like online shopping, I don’t like to shop online for shoes or clothes because the back and forth of return delivery, if something doesn’t fit quite right, is pretty annoying. There are pros and cons. Locally, one of the pros is that I can see right now if something fits and I can take it home today, the cons are that the choice is quite a bit smaller compared to what you can find online.

With that said, there have been years where the local stores absolutely met my taste with their inventory. But there have been years where I really had trouble finding shoes that I liked. That was the case for the last two years. I did, for example, get some blue sneakers last year and I purchased them because I preferred them over all the other shoes I found in the local stores, but that doesn’t mean that I liked them. It was probably more the fact that I needed shoes, so I just grabbed them. You need to lower your sights if they’re all ugly but if you want to walk through the city with shoes (lol). I talk about the shoes that broke this week. And honestly, it was basically the first time in my life that I was happy that my shoes were worn out.

So, today I went into the city to look for new shoes. I just wanted one new pair of sneakers. But damn, this time it was pretty difficult. This time they had so many shoes I liked, it was hard to believe because I am usually really picky. It’s not so much about brands or something but I prefer minimalism. What I usually look for is what I’d call “no-bullshit shoes”, which means I love unicolored stuff and if manufacturers try to reinvent the wheel, they can go to hell. I also don’t want moon boots with odds and ends. I want plain sneakers, minimalist in design. In many cases, but also in the case of shoes, I’m a purist.

And when I entered one of the local stores today, it appeared like a paradise full of shoes designed for me and my taste. I just wanted one pair and found some that I absolutely liked, and then the next ones, and another pair. Now it was clear I was in trouble. So many good shoes but I nailed it down to three pairs. All of them were white and I really thought I just need one white pair but I just couldn’t decide. Then this beautiful chick of a store clerk came over to me, asking me if I need help. I usually don’t need help when I go shopping and I never want to hear the opinion of a store clerk because obviously, they want to sell you something. But this time my brain was on auto-pilot and confused as I was, “I can’t decide?!?!” came out of my mouth. She smiled and replied that she knows the problem and then she manipulated me with a cheeky smile and continued that I might need to get them all. Usually, I am too stingy, but this time I replied: “Hell, yeah, I think you’re right, I need them all!”. I don’t regret it…