Yesterday we went into the City in Norwich to buy Florence’s school shoes. I thought it would be less busy that shopping in Westfield near to where we live and chose to go at lunch time thinking most everybody else would be out having lunch instead…

When we got to Clarks the shop floor downstairs was calm and peaceful and I thought I’d definitely made the right choice having envisaged frantic staff, ticket taking and waiting for hours upon hours before we got served. Something which with the children would have been an awful experience!

We got in the lift, left the tranquil downstairs shop for adult shoes and when the doors opened in the children’s department everything changed! There were people everywhere, children crying, parents shouting, staff running around the floor and I thought I’d entered hell! Exactly what I was trying to avoid but of course, this is the week before the schools go back, how could I avoid it. I took my ticket with a huge sigh thinking it would be a mammoth wait but then I looked at my number and saw I was only two people away from being served. Oh! Not what I expected…

We decided to peruse the shelves while we waited and Florence chose a pair while I took a back up and then our number was called. Our server didn’t seem stressed or rushed even though there was noise everywhere and she was clearly working very hard and hadn’t stopped for ages. She measured Florence’s feet and went to get the shoes in her size. And this is where it came unstuck for a bit… They didn’t have Florence’s very narrow fitting or size in the shoe she liked but they did have them in the style I had brought over (the ones I liked more). Florence was immediately in tears. She is a real shopper and she likes to choose her own shoes but she also doesn’t want to come home without a pair there and then that day. Our server said she could order the shoes to be delivered to our address. Perfect I thought but still no joy for Florence!

She just couldn’t see the wood for the trees as neither option was what she had hoped for. She wanted her chosen shoes (Breena Toes) but she didn’t want to go home empty handed. In the end, with a lot of help from the other assistant manning the door (I had to release ours to the next customer as she’d been with us while we deliberated for ages) we persuaded Florence to make a decision and she chose to bring home the ones that fitted there and then (Trixi Joy) which are pretty similar to the others but with a T Bar added. We found out that the main reason she wanted the others was because they had a fairy lining and the ones we bought didn’t but we promised some fairy stickers to stick inside and that eventually worked.

The shoes which were finally decided upon!

The shoes, as far as I’m concerned, are gorgeous. Patent so they won’t scuff as much and they have lights on the side which has always pleased Florence. So that’s it. Her first pair of school shoes is bought and next week she will be wearing them with her uniform… Oh my that makes me feel dizzy! It was a fraught experience buying them but not because of the shop being busy as I had feared it might be, more because Florence didn’t love the shoes we ended up buying. The shop was quick, efficient and had everything under control including looking after disappointed little girls and making them smile at the end.

While we were there we also picked Jimmy up some new Crazy Rock shoes which he has had before but we love them so much we want them again. I hope they bring out the boot version again this winter as he looked SO cute in them!

Jimmy’s shoes – Same again because they’re too cute!

It’ll be winter boot time next I guess…

I was sent a voucher to buy shoes in return for an honest review a while back and we still had a bit of money left on the voucher, however we added to this and chose to buy our shoes in Clarks under no obligation to write a review.

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