Typo in my note, must have been deducting 15% or 20% twice
So, thoughts? I am really on the fence. I stopped by the BB store at 346 Madison today. Rather disheartening experience; I've never seen such... disinterested customer service. At least four people make direct eye contact with me but didn't say a word even when I was within a few feet. The guy in the shoe lounge at the corner was sitting in a chair with his back facing customers and his head down; I assumed he was another customer waiting for shoes and he only lifted his head when I said "need to find a person who works here now."
They had the cordovan boot there. Only in a size 8 or so, the display model. Didn't have one in my size. I asked the guy if he had one in my size to try and he simply said "no." No follow-up or anything. I was reminded of the scene from LA Story where Steve Martin's character talks to the lady who is taking classes in conversation; for those of you who have seen the movie, that basically summed up the experience at the BB store. Frankly it wasn't much different from the Michigan Somerset Collection store.
Boot was plain but seemed... mostly nicely finished. There were some detailing issues that bothered me given the price. The leather edges along the toe were pretty uneven. Stitching was good. Sole seemed good and the insole was nicely finished. The upper didn't seem to have much lining but that may be common to these boots. I rather liked the brown color. It looked the spitting image of the C&J Harlech. Compared to the Lindrick, I'm split. I've heard the theory that cordovan's distinctive creasing works better with something like a captoe. However my AE shell Cambridges are wingtips like the Lindrick and I don't feel the creating hurts them at all. I think the Lindrick is the prettier shoe.
So, about $550 for brown shell boots with no broguing. It's a good deal. The Lindricks are outright missing from the RL site, the Harlechs are missing from the C&J site, the Aldens are kind of ugly and also appear to be mostly impossible to get, and the Carminas are just not accessible to a US buyer such as myself who would want to try-before-buy or at least handle shoes of their product line before making such an investment. So, with some 2 hours to go (assuming the sale ends midnight EST) this seems like the only option on the table if I'm looking for a dressy shell cordovan boot.
