Is there a market for high-end shoes in Toronto?

I don't know if it is determinative, but there is about a 25% duty on English shoes, while American shoes are duty free. So AE are more attractive.

I think there is a store in Vancouver that has C&J and Alden. You can also get AE at Ingledew's, and they pop up at the clearance centre in Burnaby.

Originally Posted by Master-Classter

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Oh, was that you behind my green Lambo? I may have dinged yours on the way out

Originally Posted by Philip1978

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Ha now I know your lying as the Gallardo was behind the McLaren.

No, he's right - the ding is on the back. That's ok, big timers don't complain about dings when they've got 10 more McLarens in the stable.

Originally Posted by Wrenkin

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I don't know if it is determinative, but there is about a 25% duty on English shoes, while American shoes are duty free. So AE are more attractive.

One of the reasons I gave the APC jean example a few pages back ($275 in Canada, $155 everywhere else) is because it demonstrates the stupidity of Canadian pricing. I could (I don't know if they are still the same price in Canada) buy a pair from anywhere but Canada, went through all the proper customs channels, and STILL have ended up paying $85 less than the CAD price.

If your average CJ shoe is $400 shipped, for any Canadian retailer to charge substantially over $520 is totally a dumb idea for them since that is what I'll get them for even with customs.

Someone mentioned the silliness of $700 Aldens. That would indeed be silly, just very dumb business.

Great reading so far.

Originally Posted by Man Of Lint

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Great reading so far.

We take our shoe shopping very seriously.

Originally Posted by literasyme

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I understand this argument on a national scale, but not really on a local one.

I didn't realize Hazelton V sold high-end shoes as well, but that info prompts me to pose the question slightly differently. It seems we can get overpriced well-made but unexciting shoes (AE) and extremely expensive (but probably no more stupidly expensive than elsewhere) Italian shoes in Toronto, but what's missing is the middle ground -- the range from C&J to EG. IIRC, retail for EGs in the US is generally lower than for Lobb, correct?

Why should it be impossible for a retailer to offer those types of shoes at price points similar to those in the US? Is it a matter of import duties being higher? Or is it that people who will spend $450 for AE wouldn't spend $700 (or whatever) on a pair of C&J, so that the profit margins for retailers like Harry Rosen are simply that much higher for AE (which presumably wholesale for less than C&J) than they would be for better-but-not-stratospherically-expensive shoes?

H - I think the issue is that the demand in the middle ground market you speak of isn't large enough to support those products. The other problem is that English shoes such as C&J, EG, etc don't have the same brand awareness that Prada, Ferragamo, etc have.

Let's remember that - notwithstanding healthcare, liquor sales (Alberta excepted), and energy production - Canada does have a market economy. The supply of goods responds to the demands of the market. This is why I can buy a 700 power fill down jacket at MEC for ridiculously low prices. There is a demand for cold weather clothing and the market responds.

Now what is the market for high-end shoes? Even in London there's only a handful of places that sell EG, C&J, G&G. And London has 7.6 million people.

Moral of the story? Travel to London to buy shoes, and to Toronto to buy down jackets.

I still havent figured how to make leather sole shoes last in the the Toronto winter ... I commute via subway/bus/foot and walking through slush/water/hale/various other forms of precipitation will decimate the leather souls.

Also - what do folks do for overcoats et al? I have a regular cheapo black wool/cashmere overcoat that is alright when the weather is -7-10 celsius. But as soon as it drops below that - I can feel everything freeze!

Originally Posted by sm332

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I still havent figured how to make leather sole shoes last in the the Toronto winter ... I commute via subway/bus/foot and walking through slush/water/hale/various other forms of precipitation will decimate the leather souls.

Don't wear leather soles in the winter. Stick to rubber soles.

My 0.0188488 cents' worth ...

Canadians are not, by American or European standards, wealthy people. This, coupled with our small market makes any "high-end" enterprise (excepting the hockey equipment market, like my Bauer Supreme Composites ) tough sledding.

As for Toronto specifically, the descendents of "The Family Compact" that have passed for a quasi-native elite are a dour lot -- spending a lot of money on shoes would be frivolous, and wearing anything other than sensibly black shoes suspect. Having others know that you had done so would be worse. Think like the Scots here.

The "new" and/or "smart" money set in Toronto tends to be sympatico with a "Euro" sensibility (viz the ridiculous cheek-kissing greetings that have cropped up in the last 20 years), and this may account for the prevalence of "designery" shoes of vaguely Italian influence. If somebody is going to splash out on shoes in Toronto, this is likely the direction it will take.

Fine American and English shoes are just not very much upon the radar, and with the demise of Daks, the trend is spiralling downward.

I have just stopped even trying to buy dress shoes in Canada, after paying the insane price at a local men's store on a pair of AE Byrons years ago -- I suspect I am not alone.

Originally Posted by sm332

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I still havent figured how to make leather sole shoes last in the the Toronto winter ... I commute via subway/bus/foot and walking through slush/water/hale/various other forms of precipitation will decimate the leather souls.

Also - what do folks do for overcoats et al? I have a regular cheapo black wool/cashmere overcoat that is alright when the weather is -7-10 celsius. But as soon as it drops below that - I can feel everything freeze!

Galoshes, overshoes, toe-rubbers ...

overshoes are terrible to look at - galoshes are not that much better on the eye either. Toe-rubbers? I am going to have to Google that.

The current result of all of this is that I end up using my beater shoes - well by comparison with most on SF, most of my shoes are beater shoes - but you get the point

Sure the overshoes/galoshes look terrible...but whaddaya gonna do? I wish i could afford a rubber soled winter shoe wardrobe, but I can't. I actually don't mind wearing galoshes when walking thru the snow and slush. when i arrive a the office, i take 'em off and shove them under my desk. no big deal. but at a bar or restaurant, i never know what to do with them. they're hideous, so i don't wnat to keep wearing them, but i can't take them off and put them in my bag...i should just move to california

Originally Posted by sm332

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I still havent figured how to make leather sole shoes last in the the Toronto winter ... I commute via subway/bus/foot and walking through slush/water/hale/various other forms of precipitation will decimate the leather souls.

Also - what do folks do for overcoats et al? I have a regular cheapo black wool/cashmere overcoat that is alright when the weather is -7-10 celsius. But as soon as it drops below that - I can feel everything freeze!

I topy'd all my shoes. I'm from Vancouver originally and leather soled shoes in a temperate rainforest climate do not work. I know topy is supposed to be bad for your shoes, but it keeps your feet dry and prevents the shoes from wearing out.

When it snows I wear a pair of wellington boots. It looks silly at first. That is until I walk through a snowbank without doing the silly hop that people do to avoid the slush.

As for jackets, I have a monstrous MEC sky-blue down jacket that comes down past my butt for when the temp. drops to -20C. Again, I look like a fool - but I'm a warm fool. Only teenagers refuse to wear sensible jackets when the wind chill is cold enough to freeze the cat to the porch.

Why not go to the source rather than look for them at local retail establishments.

If they are worth buying ... surely they're worth the effort.

Originally Posted by RSS

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Why not go to the source rather than look for them at local retail establishments.

If they are worth buying ... surely they're worth the effort.

Because it's hard to try things on over the internet?