Striderite

mckayleesmom wrote: Am I the only one that had never heard of this store until about a year ago? I saw it in the mall with my sil about a year ago and I had honestly never seen or heard about one. I grew up in California and I never saw them. Now I hear about them all the time.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: They've been around for quite some time, but are gaining popularity. They do have great shoes. Both of my kids still wear Stride Rite. It's also one of the only brands you can get X wide in.

They have a sale coming up in March. That's a good time to buy their shoes...when they are on sale.

jcc64 replied: They've been around since I was a kid, I believe. They make excellent shoes for little kids, especially first walkers. Very soft leather, very good fit, all different widths for those pudgy baby feet, and nicely styled. Also very expensive. Good stuff, but don't expect any bargains there.

mckayleesmom replied:
Everywhere I live..doesn't have them. Maybe they have one in Louisville..I will have to ask LeaAnn...The mall here by Ft. Knox is tiny...you blink and you miss it.

CAMSMOM1 replied:

I live in California, and I've always seen them around. In fact, that's where I bought Cameron's first pair of shoes when he started walking. They were leather hightops. They are really expensive, but worth it for a good 1st pair of shoes. Now I just shop at Walmart/Target for his shoes, since he grows out of them so quickly.

C&K*s Mommie replied: Like Jeanne I have heard of them since I was a kid. But we have never bought the girls' shoes there. Payless, IMO, has cute shoes that have great features for kids-- that are well within our price range. Plus we always oversize shoes when we buy anyways-- Christian can get more than one season of wear out of them.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Our mall back home doesn't have them, but we had a baby specialty store that sold them. Maybe check places like that.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I grew up in CA and wore them as a kid way back in the 70s!! I don't remember them having their own store back then though, but they sold them at other shoe places around town.

3_call_me_mama replied: When I worked as a nanny i had teh pleasure of shopping there
The girls I nannied for ONLY wore stride rite shoes. They are WAY expensive but high quality. They each had 3-4 pairs. It was nothign to walk out of the store spending $300 on shoes for kindergarten!!
My kids wore stride rite as infants/toddlers (they walked about 9 months) MIL got a wicked deal on them though. A store hear her was going out of business and she had been shoppin gthere since teh 70's when DH was a baby and the owner had a $5 sale. All shoes were $5 and they were all stride rites. So For a while we had stride rites, she bough a few pairs in each size. But after tehy got past size 7 no more. (We didn't think they woudl be out of 7's before they hit 2 years old!!)

coasterqueen replied: we have one place here and it's not well known IMO because it's off the beaten path per se. I buy shoes there for Kylie, just tennishoes because she wears those the most. I never had to buy walking shoes there for her because she wore Robeez when walking because they are supposed to be better for walking than regular shoes. I'll get Megan's tennishoes there too.

lesliesmom replied: Like others, I grew up with StrideRite. In fact, I took both my kids to the same store we used to get my shoes at growing for their first pairs. It even has the same pony merry-go-round on the sales floor, complete with the names still worn off....

StrideRite is the only place I get my kids shoes for like the first year. As noted, they are expensive (here they are about $30-$40 for a basic, plain pair of shoes); however, DH and I feel they are best for those first steps, that's just our personal preference. I think I prefer them because we actually have the kids fitted for their shoes so we know we're getting them sized correctly.

As they get older, however, and once we know their sizes we buy elsewhere. Back in 2002, StrideRite and Target combined forces and StrideRite now sells shoes at Target under the Kid Smart and Baby Smart name. Hope this helps...
I have yet to buy shoes there yet or even price them (I am VERY fortunate that my kids feet just don't grow), both kids got new shoes in August and are just about ready to move to the next size.

holley79 replied: We use to have one at the Outlet mall in Foley. I had never heard of them till I was over there but then again I kind of live under a rock most of the time.

CAMSMOM1 replied: I forgot to mention, that Striderite was the only shoe store that made shoes that fit Cameron the first year. He has a XX Wide foot, and would never fit in shoes at the other stores. And S.R. was the only store that makes shoes with different widths like that, and gave him good support. Now I just buy him 1 size larger at the cheaper stores, since he doesn't need that support like he did when he first started walking.

kimberley replied: we've had striderites here for at least 9yrs cuz i bought them when Jacob was a baby. at the time, they were the only brand of shoe that made wide EEE for his chunky little feet

MamaJAM replied: I knew the place exsisted....but refused to pay their prices for kid shoes until I had no choice with DS#1 (he has extremely wide feet and they are the only store that sell shoes wide enough). DS#2 followed in his footsteps too (thank goodness for hand-me-downs). Cant' wait until their feet thin out a bit!

julesmom replied: Check outlet centers for Stride Rites. I only buy my kids shoes there because they need wides. I can get a pair at the outlet center for $19.99 on sale. That's not bad, IMHO.