I found the following article archived online when I went looking for a Croc store today:
2008 November 24I’m not quite sure how I missed it up until this point in my life, but there is an ENTIRE CROCS STORE located near Queen and Spadina. Although I’ve never owned a pair of Crocs, they are to shoes what Texas is to travel for me: that which I need not experience to know that I never need to.
I found [a] hilarious review of the store (by Connie T.) and I couldn’t have said it better myself:
“Uh, what sane person on Queen West would walk into this store and take a beating to their boutique cred? Like that Facebook group states, ‘I Don’t care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like A Dumbass.’
I stepped in, more out of curiosity than anything else, and was bowled over by how many ugly shoes and colours were packed into one location. It blew my mind.
But I think more than anything else, I don’t get why this store is where it is. It would seem more appropriate in the Eaton Centre or Dufferin Mall. In fact, I’ve passed by a number of times throughout the day and no one is ever inside. Big surprise.”
The Crocs store is located at 356 Queen Street West.
~
Well, that all said and done, I would like to share my side of the story. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have back, and therefore, foot problems. I have, as a result, been sent to all kinds of specialists – orthopedic surgeons, physiotherapists, shoe clinics, and even specialty stores.
I also have, as a result of my problems, had to stash in the basement all of the beautiful shoes I have collected over the years. Most of these shoes, if examined carefully, would render a verdict of sensible, almost none of them too high or too low, and many of them made by reputable shoe-makers.
In the last six years, I have been relegated to Birkenstocks (irony, thy name is granola), Naots, a lovely pair of Borns, and a pair of Echoes that didn’t hold up quite as well as I expected. Even at that, I can only wear any of these shoes for a limited time period before my back gives out.
Not so with Crocs. I bought my first, and thus far only pair, several years ago (at The Bay at Yonge and Bloor), a little sceptical of their look and colour, but knowing that…vanity, thy name is idiot…and brought them home.
In a nutshell, I haven’t taken them off since. I wear them exclusively at home, to the pool, at the cottage, to the beach, and even sometimes when I’m out running errands.
So I would like to say to the presumably young writer above
- don’t knock what you haven’t tried – even Texas (have you read up on vibrant Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World, for example?)
- you cannot know when the day will come that you will need to walk a mile or more in someone else’s shoes or shoe styles
- thesaurus.com is a useful place for locating synonyms (in this case, dumbass)
- dictionary.com is a useful place for locating definitions (in this case, hilarious)
- who are you to decide what stores merit being where?
- who are you to mock the shoe that has saved my walking life?
- if boutique cred is the thing that means I’ve made it, count me out. I’d rather wear Crocs to my wedding than be considered a part of that crowd.
As my mother always said, handsome is as handsome does.
And as my daughter likes to say – Bite me!
