Aunty Acid by Ged Backland for August 27, 2021

I got five dollar shoes last week from Wally-Mart.

We wore $1.49 runners from Woodward’s.

How do you justify that? They’re going to outgrow them .

I got plastic shoes, mom was trying to drum up some money by selling them.

I my day sneakers were cheap shoes: Converse for boys and Keds for girls. I think they were about $5.

BOGOs from Payless! Good times.

Omigawd! Payless! Haven’t though about them in years. Are they still in business? Now there’s the Dollar Stores, though I don’t think they sell shoes. . .

i don’t remember how much buster browns cost, but i suspect it wasn’t 300 bloody dollars…

When I was a child, there WAS no Payless.

I had Payless and Sears back in the day.

I did not even know payless existed when I was in grade school. I checked, they did exist then but I never heard of them. My shoes came from Zayres.

Pay Less Ruled

No Payless when I was growing up. We got brand new seconds from the shoe factory in the town my sister and her husband lived in! Practically ‘free’ for what my father paid for them.

Not my kids when they were in school. I didn’t need to spoil my children to justify myself as a parent… I did my job and they actually appreciated the discipline, love and example.

I wouldn’t pay that much for my own shoes today. Certainly not for a kid’s school shoes.

My daily-wear shoes today are $50 sneakers. I actually prefer the $20 ones from WalMart, but I require a size that they often don’t have on the shelf, forcing me to look elsewhere. Even my good dress shoes cost less than $200 (and I only need to replace them ever 10 years or so, since I only wear them for special events).

You had shoes? We had were three boys and we took turns carrying each other to school!

Yeah Aunty, and two pair for $10.00!!!

Amen to that!

I not saying I’m old, but I had sandals made from deer hide.

There weren’t shoe stores in my tiny town, so we ordered from the Sears catalog.

Bright blue high tops from Valley Fair Discount Store in NJ. $2.00 a pair.

When one of my bros was a kid (late ’50s / early ’60s) he was so hard on his shoes, our mom used to budget $1/week for them. $2 shoes would last 2 weeks & $10 shoes would last 10.

I was just the opposite, extra-easy on shoes because E widths in girls’ shoes were so hard to find. To this day I’m still the same way. I have shoes I’ve worn for 25-30 years & they’re still in good shape. Granted, it’s partly because I kick them off the moment I walk thru my front door, but still… 8-) I was upset beyond all recall when the local KMart closed, because it was the only place nearby where I could almost always find shoes that fit!

I spent years of my life buying high heels that cost $300-$600. I don’t have any idea now why I thought that was a good thing. And I don’t know how I managed to afford them, although I did usually wait for a sale. It doesn’t even seem real now. However, I do remember the day I took them all (at least 50 pairs) and threw them in the trash. Now, I have Crocs. Nothing but Crocs. I love Crocs.

My dresses came in a set of two from Sear’s catalog, you get to pick one color but not the 2nd one. Boys clothes came in regular or ‘husky’ sizes.

Due to back, hip, knee, ankle and fasciitis issues, I only wear (b)Asic gel shoes now. The outlet mall isn’t far, and I get them at a reasonable price.

Saddle shoes.

I used to seconds from the Converse factory.

When I was a kid, “New” shoes were what you got when your Older Brother’s feet got too big for them.

They lasted a lot longer because they only got worn to School and to Church on Sundays.

Barefoot was for the rest of the time.

I got my older brother’s shoes that he grew out of.