The Perfect Wine Retailer’s Shoe

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: I found them on Zappos — where you can order thousands of dollars of cowboy boots, try them all on in the privacy of your own living room, send back the ones that hurt like hell and keep the two pairs that apparently were made for your very specific feet (in my case, Lucchese, size 9, gives a blister-less fit from the very first wearing.) I suppose I could have done that at a shoe shop, but pulling too-small cowboy boots off your feet is something best not done in public.

Originally published on March 27, 2009.

After almost a year and a half at the store, I have decided on the perfect shoe. This is a big deal because in my old corporate gig, I wore heels. Very high heels with pointy toes. This works when you’re only walking from your desk to a meeting or out to lunch. Doesn’t work so well when you’re in a wine store, hauling around cases, standing behind the register, and making local deliveries.

The first 6 months or so that the store was open, I was pregnant, so the shoe choice was further constrained by what I could fit my feet into. Mainly very flat, funky sneaker-type shoes from my previous pregnancies. Over the winter, I wore out two pairs of fairly flat calf-high boots. Now I’m back into those flat, funky sneaker things, which I’m really starting to hate. Apparently, I’m finally starting to miss my heels.

So what’s a wine-hauling, hand truck-pulling, heel-loving girl to do?

Cowboy boots. I have decided I need one (or a couple) pairs of cowboy boots. They have heels, yet they’re sturdy. They’re pointy, yet they’re comfortable (once you break them in.) And they can work with jeans or trousers.

Now I just need to buy a pair (or two.) Anyone know where the nearest cowboy boot store is to 66 West Broadway, Manhattan?