Today whilst out and about I popped into Big and Tall which is a retail shop in South Africa catering for the bigger person. My needs are not catered for by the usual retail shoe stores and have to seek out specialist stores which also comes with a premium price tag.
The shoes above I bought in Paris 10 days ago and they were what I would call a bargain costing 49 euros or R900. Th Big and Tall shop today had no stock of any size UK 15 or US 16 shoes and looking at what they had in general was seriously over priced for what they had on offer. The majority of clothes and footwear they had in stock was clothing I would normally avoid and having big feet or a large body does not mean you have to settle for items you do not want. Thankfully for shirts I am generally an XL or XXL depending on the make and cut and more of an XL these days. Being 6ft 5 does mean you need most things bigger.
I checked online last night with the other retailer I use in Durban and again they had no footwear stock in my sizes and the brands they offered were inferior local rubbish again marked up to eye watering prices.
The money I spent in a two hour clothing splurge may sound excessive to some people but for what I purchased being more than 1000 Euros it would literally cost me double or triple here. That is if they had the stock which they mostly do not anyway and what they have I would not even be tempted.
I saw a pair of shoes not in my size, but would be one of around 5 in the range I could select from all starting anywhere between R1700 (100 Euros) ad R2700 (150 Euros). This is why I used to incorporate clothes shopping when travelling as I have no other choices.
Sports shoes were always a problem when growing up and being told they do not have your size happened from when I was around 13 years of age. Eventually Adidas helped me directly with thigs like running shoes and rugby boots and other items like cricket boots I had to import.
This proves I am stuck with travelling for my shopping needs which is not a bad excuse to travel with the only bricks and mortar retailer being in Paris. The Size Factory will hopefully remain a bricks and mortar business and not disappear like the other shops and go 100% online. My mind has been whirling lately and believe a Size Factory store in the UK in the right place would do very well and is something I could get involved with within the next year or two.