Shoe Buying Day In Flomaton

Shoe Buying Day In Flomaton
When I was a kid there weren't Payless shoe stores on every corner. There were Mom and Pop shoe stores where people took their shoes to be resoled, or heeled or sewn back together. Yep, I said sewn back together because our shoes were leather and they were made to last.

We only got one pair of shoes for the school year and Daddy had to make them good so he took us to the Men's shoe store in Flomaton to get us shoes. He never said the reasoning behind it but I think that they were cheaper than Girls shoes and they also lasted longer than girls shoes and we were tough on shoes.

I still remember my trip to the store when I was 7 or 8. I wanted a pair of Penny Loafers like I had seen some of the kids wear to school. Some of them had pennies in them but some of them had nickels or dimes in them. I think that was enough to make a phone call back then so maybe it was for safety's sake or just for status. I don't know because I wasn't one of those kids. I just wanted a pair to put a penny in so "that I could say I had a penny to my name". I know that probably sounds odd today when shoes cost hundreds of dollars but back then 3.49 was a good price for a pair of shoes, especially when you had six "hard on shoes" kids to feed and clothe.

We walked into the store and the first thing that hit you was the smell in your nose. You could smell the leather and the shoe polish all over the small store. In the back, you could see where you turned your shoes in to be fixed by the cobbler. Cobbler is such a strange word to hear today with Visions of Hans Christian Anderson running through my head but back then, it was pretty standard to be able to get your shoes fixed in the store you bought them from, cause the owner was a shoe man. That old fashioned type of man that sold, bought, and fixed shoes. I bet he had visions of shoe repair in his head like a music person has visions of music in their heads.

This man was a magician. I have seen some pretty raggedy shoes being brought in and after a new sole and heel was added and it was shined and buffed to perfection, it looked like a brand new pair of shoes and it was cheap to have that done. Pennies on the dollar.

I saw the Penny Loafers right away and made my way to the left of the store where the display was. There were shelves with shoes on them and I saw a snazzy brown pair that caught my eye. I had put on clean socks that day because I wanted to slide those things on, like butter on my feet, and I pointed to the ones I liked. I didn't ask daddy if I could have them but he saw by my excitement of having my foot measured and sliding my feet into them that I wanted them so badly. They were stiff on my feet with the shiny leather but I knew that they would soften and mold themselves to my feet as I wore them and I didn't care that they were boys shoes, I just loved them.

The smell of that brown leather, the feel of it smooth under my fingers and that little slot where the penny goes! That was the prize. Daddy bought me that pair of shoes and I carried them out of the store in their box like they were gold. The shoe man had slipped a penny in them for me while I was modeling them and I felt like a million bucks. We couldn't wear them except of to school or church and this was neither of those things so I kept them in the box. squirming with anticipation for Monday to roll around. This was Saturday so I had two days to wait and man, that was hard.

I put on my shiny shoes for school on Monday and waltzed into school like I was a Queen only to have a kid tell me I was wearing boys shoes and they laughed. That may have squashed a softer kids ego but I could have cared less. I was pretty "junk yard dog" mean or just tough in those days and I let that remark roll off me like water off a duck as I stared at my beautiful brown leather shoes that daddy had bought for me.

If you scroll down this ad for Men's shoes back in the day, you will find those same brown leather shoes for 3.49 that daddy got me. I wore those things til my toes hurt, I loved them so much. I never tired of visiting the shoe store as a kid and still today, I love a good whiff of leather. lol

I wish that kids today knew the sacrifice that parents go through to feed and clothe a bunch of kids on little money. I hope that there are still kids that get excited to get one good pair of shoes a year and that they still smell like leather.

As Daddy's birthday is coming up, I am thinking of the loss of him almost 32 years ago now and what he had to do to make sure we had food on the table and a shiny new pair of shoes for school every year. He was a good man and I am thankful for him.
And if any of you have penny loafers today, wear those things with pride. They were worn my little boys and girls everywere in the 50's and we thought they were the Cat's meow... lol.. Love to all of the beautiful people in my life, Kimmee

All About Mens 1950s Shoes Styles

1950s men's shoes styles include oxfords, loafers, saddle shoes, chukka boots, blue suede, creepers, nubucks and motorcycle boots. Men's shoe history.

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