Good Feet

Okay. I confess. I“m not a good shoe shopper. I damaged the nerves in my arches 20 years ago on a job, and they will never work right again. So I have 2 or 3 styles /​brands of shoe, and everything else might as well be glass slippers or ice skates because a fairy tale is as close as I“ll ever get to wearing them.
That said — I went into this place for some good, sturdy arch supports appropriate for my feet — and to make sure I wasn’t missing some alternative. I don’t work on my feet (as evidenced by the number of hours at a computer every day) — but I do drive a lot, and do either treadmill or bike exercise. This is not a hard puzzle to solve.
Good Feet is not connected to a podiatrist except perhaps at the corporate R&D level or for marketing purposes, so it’s not medical/​prescription level foot work. And their «3 step process» is basically a thorough measuring; questions about symptoms, pain, and history; and potentially 3 levels of arch supports — for re-​training/​reshaping the foot, maintenance, and casual wear. Our salesman’s patter included an analogy to dentistry: braces to correct, retainers to maintain, and a mouth with no appliance at all to relax.
And that’s the spiel. And spiel is the right word. This is a very scripted shopping experience. Fill this stuff out. Let me ask you some questions about what hurts, when it hurts, and how how bad it hurts. Let me measure carefully. When was the last time you had your feet measured correctly? Here, rest your feet on this vibrator and read these pages while I go find your ideal product.
And, like a vaccum cleaner salesman with his patter — the price is never mentioned. You can ask. (do – ask) — because the full treatment of braces, retainers and relaxors will run almost 4 columns of numbers and some change — and that’s without the high-​end shoes to put them in.
Which is still a reasonable deal if you’re in serious pain and have to work on your feet for hours and hours every day. The patter is a little — patterish — so it can get a little tedious; but I’m guessing that can’t be helped. These are sales people — not medical professionals or cobblers.
There was a steady stream of customers while we were there — which says a lot about how many people are walking around with aching feet. High tech comfort is a growth industry.
And yes — I bought 1 pair of rigid supports. I barely notice them — except when I’m driving, as they keep my foot from straining and sliding into cramped positions on long drives or in difficult traffic. They make even my very stable athletic shoes completely rigid and add support in all the right places to make my foot more the shape it was when I was new from the factory.
And this is a good thing.
The supports can be moved from one pair of shoes to another — and are made to last for years. Also a good thing.
I didn’t buy shoes. They sell brands made exactly for people who have difficult feet, stand/​walk all day, or whose feet hurt — and I already own those shoes.