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Disappointed w/ alden trunk show

RLDean

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I had been eagerly waiting for the Alden trunk show coming to Denver for the past 6 weeks, and now that it's come and gone I'm rather disappointed.

I've never owned Aldens before, and the salesman at Homer Reed Ltd mentioned the trunk show and the rep that would be out that could help fit me in the different lasts.  Well, the rep brought out most models (not the monk straps), but as far as the selection for trying on he only had sizes in the Copley last Flex Welts, and Aberdeen last slip-on (tassel mocs) -- no Hampton last, no Aberdeen lace-ups ...

He put me in a 10D (which I could have guessed blindly), but mentioned that in the Aberdeen perhaps a 10-1/2C would work better, but that he didn't have any C widths with him.  My left heel slipped out of the Aberdeen moc completely with each step, but I have no idea if the 10-1/2C or lace-ups would be much better.

I was hoping to get a feel for the various lasts (lace up and slip on) so that I could order them with condfidence in the future, and have a starting point for translating the fit to C&J and EG, alas, that was not to be.

Perhaps this was more a problem of missed expectations, than the trunk show -- not really sure.  The promo was free shoe trees for orders made during the show, so I went ahead and ordered the Medallion Tip Balmorals in burnished tan (hampton last) and I'll hope for the best.

finished complaining,
/richard
 

RIDER

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Wholesale men are notoriously poor shoe fitters. Their main responsibility is to cultivate sales in their territories. Also, they do not typically travel with stock; just the samples. Many of the reps now have very little shoe fitting experience; it's much more important for them to have the personality and drive to spend most of their time on the road building their account base and taking care of the problems retailers have - not individual customers. The salesman/fitter at the store you visited has the responsibility to fit you properly. He/she should have needed no help from a rep as to how a particular last/style fits. Thats his job. This Spring, due to scheduling concerns, I did the Allen Edmonds trunk show on the same weekend at all 3 stores. I did store A, the rep did store B, and our manager did store C. The return/refusal rate at store B (where the A/E man did the fittings) was 50% while my stores had a grand total of 1. Next season we will do all the fittings.
 

LA Guy

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RIDER,

If you don't mind, I was wondering where and what the name of your store is, so that I might pop in or a visit sometime. Please feel free to PM me if you don't want to post this information on the board.

Thanks.
 

RLDean

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Rider, thanks for all the detail, we'll see what happens when the shoes arrive.
 

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