Bring Your Shoehorn

January 5, 2022 –

Unlike the shoe store I was in this morning, Carnival stocks only shoes and many of them. When you find shoes, you want to try on and ask for a shoehorn, you don’t expect to hear, “we don’t have a shoehorn.” I clearly remember when you went to purchase shoes, a salesman assisted you in finding the right shoe and helped you get them on to ensure fit. Today, no salesperson or clerk and no shoehorn and no sale.

It is kind of nice to know the United States has the most significant footwear market globally, amounting to over 91 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2019. Consumers around the world buy an estimated 14.5 billion to 19 billion pairs of shoes per year

There are an estimated 927 shoe and footwear manufacturing businesses in the U.S. as of 2021.  It would help these manufactures to provide their retail customers with shoehorns.

My, how times have changed. Today’s retail shoe industry has no service, no shoehorns, and will soon have no business. Retail shoe stores should post a sign in their window saying, “Bring your own shoehorn.”