It’s a pity that Imelda Marcos is too busy fighting court cases these days. There’s never been a better time for shoe lovers. First Selfridges supersized its footwear section by opening the 35,000-sq-ft women’s Shoe Galleries in London in 2010. Across the pond, Macy’s New York upped its act two years later with a 63,000-sq-ft shoe section that offered clients 432 fawning salespersons, 280,000 pairs of shoes, 274 mobile and iTouch scanning devices and 548 chairs to drop into. In Shanghai, Lane Crawford created the largest shoe floor in China (at 30,000 sq ft) in 2013.
Now Harrod’s has got into the size-is-wise act with a 42,000-sq-ft footwear haven. Occupying the London store’s entire fifth floor, Shoe Heaven offers clients 100,000 pairs of shoes from 55 designers. Seventeen of these designers, including Valentino and Christian Louboutin, have their own shop in shop. “With shoes becoming an ever inspiring part of the way a woman dresses, and indeed a key part of our business, we are creating a truly fabulous shoe destination in Harrods,” said Helen Davis, fashion director, in explanation.
Fabulous is right. With dimensions that run to three Olympic-sized swimming pools, the store has been created to impress. A total of 2,110 sq metres of marble have been used to build the art deco style store that boasts 400 square metres of carpeting and rotAfter Selfridges and Macy’s, Harrods gets a foot into the supersized shoe store door. Take a dekko. By yezdee kayeundas with ambient lighting.
Still, it falls behind the Mecca of shoe retailing that is Dubai Mall’s Level Shoe District. That 96,000-sq-ft space stocks 300 brands with 40 stand-alone designer boutiques and is said to sell 600 pairs a day. The ‘District’ also houses a 1,400-sq-ft Sole Lounge where celeb podiatrist Margaret Dabbs runs a foot spa. “Someday, they will use Imeldific to mean ostentatious extravagance,” said Marcos once. They seem to have started with Imeldific shoe shops.