I'm still trying to shop local

Once again, I was trying to shop local instead of purchasing the same items on the internet, but it failed.

I not only try to support little ma and pa shops, but I try to support the local well-known retailers as well. Why? Because it seems like more and more of them keep closing.

I recently had a birthday, and because of this I received a lot of coupons in the mail or on my email encouraging me to visit a certain store and take advantage of “special birthday” savings.

My oldest son, Matthew, out of the blue tells me his tennis shoes hurt his feet. I check to see; and sure enough his toe is at the very end of the shoe in his thin socks. Yes. He has thin and thick socks.

It is at this point that I realize I had received a 25 percent off no exclusions coupon to a shoe store in Rock Springs. I decided to load both boys up in the car and go to the store. I even decided on the drive to the store that if the boys are behaving well, I might look for some shoes for me as well.

Lately, I have been getting more and more discouraged about finding shoes for my feet. I am a size 5 or 5.5 and it is hard to find shoes in that size anymore. In most stores the smallest size they have is a 6. Now, I have tried to wear thick socks and pretend that a 6 will work, but all I am left with is blisters on my feet and skin rubbed off on the backs of my heel where the shoe rubbed my foot wrong all day.

We arrive at the store, and Matthew and I look for shoes, while John, my youngest, checks out the umbrellas. It was raining that day and he thought he needed one.

For tennis shoes, Matthew had only a couple options at this store, but that is a story for another day. Anyway, he picked out a pair of shoes that he liked and happen to light up when he walked.

Since both boys were doing well, I found my section. Only to be disappointed. There were maybe 30 pairs of shoes to choose from and not many of them were my style. I found a couple of pairs in a bigger size that I liked and tried them on.

Of course they were too big, but I couldn’t tell if I liked them or not. When I found a couple of pairs I liked, I asked the person working for help. I asked if she could order the shoes for me in the size I need.

“You can go online and order them yourself,” she said.

She went on to explain, that they can’t order a pair unless there is already a pair like them in that size. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. I was once again upset. I was trying to make sure the store got credit for the shoe sale so it wouldn’t be the next store to close and now I have to order them online anyway.

I tried the kids section next. No. Not for my kids, but for me. I have found a lot of kids shoes over the years that fit well, are comfortable and last a long time. I did find one pair that I could wear.

I did go home and order the shoes online I liked from that store and I also noticed a change on that store’s website. It no longer allowed a customer to ship an item free to a store for pickup.

What?

I figured I could order it and have it shipped to the store so the local store would get credit.

No such luck.

As it becomes harder and harder to find things locally I may get discouraged at times, but at this point, I am not going to be waving a white flag anytime soon.