Ray Hollister Just what the world needed, someone else's opinion.

Four horrible pairs of shoes from Payless Shoesource

I admit that I'm not much of a shoe aficionado. I normally buy whatever dress shoe style that Target is carrying these days, and years ago, before we had a Target in our neighborhood, I would just grab whatever Wal-Mart had in stock. Just before Christmas, my wife and I decided to buy a couple new dress shoes for me and a couple of dressy casual shoes for her. We checked out Target first, but decided to visit Payless Shoesource since they were right next door and there were HUGE BOGO signs out front. I was surprised when I found two pairs of shoes that were very similar to the ones that I had picked out at Target, but they looked nicer, and they were cheaper! I decided to get a black pair of traditional oxford style dress shoes and a black pair of square toed oxford dress shoes. My wife decided to get a pair of sequined black loafers and a pair of black ballet flats. For the first few weeks, they were great. The shoes were comfortable and solid.

However, shortly after Christmas, (only 5 weeks after buying them) I noticed that the square toed shoes had a bubble on the right toe. The material had started separating. I felt dumb because when I examined them closely I realized that they were not leather. They were made of artificial materials. I looked at the Oxfords and the same was true, more pleather. Admittedly, this was my own fault for buying fake leather, but I was still ticked off. They even smelled like real leather.

Next, I noticed that the Oxfords were feeling strange as I walked. They felt as if I was falling to the left and the ball of my feet felt like they were in a depression, kind of like when you step on a crack on the sidewalk. I examined the bottom of my shoes and found that the soles had worn out and were deeply cracked. I looked at the back of the left shoe and the sole was separated from the upper.

Again, I am not a shoe aficionado, but the cheap shoes that I picked up from the discount department stores usually lasted at least a year before I would start to have problems like this. These shoes basically falling apart in under 60 days is just completely unacceptable. In all fairness to Payless they do have a decent return policy, and if I could find my blasted receipt, I would be taking them back to the store. However, I am like most people, and I have no idea where it would be, if I even still have it.

As if this wasn't bad enough, my wife's shoes also fell apart.

So, will I be shopping at Payless again? Probably not. If I do, I will make sure to get the receipt and I will laminate it and frame it.