willow_heels Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 As a guy who is very much into heels and cross dressing, I've always wished I had the courage to be able to go shopping around real shops, unfortunately I've never been able to pluck up that courage and always ordered online, that is until 1 week ago when I finally managed to overcome my nerves. It all started 3 weeks ago when I'd stopped off at a retail park in the North of England close to where I live. I was actually looking around the shops for bargains in the sales when I noticed that there was a large New Look store there. In the window were various pairs of quite high heels and some of them were simply beautiful. I couldn't resist walking in to have more of a look. Once inside I saw the sign saying that mens wear & shoes were upstairs. This turned out to be quite handy because it allowed me to pretend to browse through the mens clothes, but really I was glancing at all the heels on display. Unfortunately the store was very busy and I was just to frightened to browse the shoes properly, never mind try and buy a pair. Over then next 2 weeks I think I must have gone into that store 4 or 5 times, each time I bottled out and went away disappointed at having no heels. Either the store was too busy, or the one male shop assistant in there would insist on approaching me asking if I needed help, resulting in me fleeing the store. Well, just over a week ago I decided that I would do this once and for all. I got up early on a Saturday morning and made sure I was at the shop for opening time. I went in and headed straight for the menswear, but all the time glancing at the shoes. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the store was, the second thing was that there was a very young, but friendly looking female staff member on the till, as well as 2 other young female staff on the shop floor. I figured it was now or never so I moved from the mens section and started directly browsing the shoes. As I was looking at row after row of high heels I could feel myself getting hot from a mixture of excitement and fear. I'm sure I had to keep telling myself to remember to breath. After what felt like 20 minutes of looking at various shoes, one of the female staff members approached me and asked in a friendly manner if I needed any help, I meekly replied that I was 'just looking thanks'. I had to fight the urge to bolt and carry on looking. In this store all the shoes are out on the shelves, so you can just find your size, pick them up and go straight to the till with them. I eventually settled on a purple pair of stiletto heels (around 4 1/2" heel) as well as a pair of black platforms with a cork 6" heel. I took a deep breath and picked up the heels I wanted, and then headed to the counter. Now I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen, maybe an alarm was going to start wailing and red lights flashing, but non of that happened. I took the shoes to the counter and the gorgeous young girl on the till was really friendly. She didn't break out in laughter or ask any uncomfortable questions, she simply scanned them, popped them in a bag, told me I could simply bring them back if they didn't fit and then gave me a beautiful smile and said thankyou. I think I probably skipped out of that shop that morning. I'm going to try and post some pics of the shoes I got from there, and if anyone is interested I might type out the remainder of what happened that day. Lets just say it involves a 400 mile round trip to Wolverhampted to visit a shop for some fetish heels, followed by a stop off at a big shopping centre in Sheffield where I got another pair of shoes from Faith. By the time I got back home that day I had popped my shoe shopping cherry and had 5 pairs of shiney new heels. Well, sorry to have waffled on for so long, I was just very excited about that day.
willow_heels Posted February 1, 2009 Author Posted February 1, 2009 ok, I think I managed to figure out how to upload some pics on Flicr Purple Stiletto front - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3242110365/ Purple Stiletto back - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3242109781/ Purple Stiletto side - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3242941826/ Platforms front - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3242942114/ Platforms back - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3242110191/ Platforms side - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3242110091/
vector Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Willow, Great purchases! Congrats on the in store purchase. And yes, I think we'd all like to hear about the rest of your day!
samcar455 Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 I remember the first time I shopped for heels. Isn't a wonderfully liberating feeling when you finally do it? One of my goals in life is to have enough disposable income to purchase a pair of Christian Louboutin's.
Guest Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Well done, I love New Look so open and accommodating. I have bought several pairs for both of us on my own, sometimes I get some banter, "Nice colour, for you?" but it's normally in my O/H's size I'm buying when I get that. Having said that the last visit I came out with a pair of brown platforms for me and a pair of purple sandals for her, the departing words were "thank you, bye enjoy". and the cash desk was at the other end of the store! Both were in their sale, cost £11.84 for both, ain't complaining at that price. Al
tal Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Its a very addicting experience. Once you done it, there's no stopping, especially when you get treated like any other customer, or better, when you get a positive comment of the staff, and have a laugh as well. Next step is trying them on in the store, the whole reason for buying direct from a store and not from over the net. Love your shoes, and would be interested in reading the whole story. My username changes every now and then on here. God knows why.
willow_heels Posted February 1, 2009 Author Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks for the kind words After I'd managed to successfully purchase some heels from newlook I decided to make it a full day of shoe shopping. I'd visited a website called darkkitten a few times as they have some goth and fetish heels on their site. I noticed they also had a shop in Wolverhampton so decided I'd make the 200 mile trip down there and see if I could find the shop. 4 hours later and I'd parked up in wolverhampton and spent another hour trying to find the actual shop, it was up a little side street and I was surprised how tiny the shop was. I had a quick ciggie outside to help build up some courage and then went in. As I said, the shop was really small, and it was packed with stacked up boxes of heels almost to the ceiling. There were two female staff working in there, a very young girl and a slightly older looking woman. I had already decided what heels I would like from the website so immediately asked if they had in some Domina stiletto mules with a 6" heel, as well as asking what 7" non platform shoes they had in, both in a UK size 7. Unfortunately they didn't didn't have the mules in in my size, but the ladies who worked there were great with me, they never directly asked if the shoes were for me, but they went to great lengths to find other styles of mules that might be similar. They also showed me some of the 7" heels they had in. In the end I went for a pair of 'seduce' stiletto mules with a 5" heel and also got a pair of scream 6 1/2" oxford laceup shoes. I left Wolverhampton happy with my purchases and set off back home. On the way back I was driving past Sheffield and knew their was a big shopping center there called Meadowhall, I decided to stop in and have a look at what shoe shops they had. I was feeling much more confident after the previous successes I'd had that day, I headed straight for Faiths and even though it was busy I took my time browsing the shoes and then finally settled on a pair of black platforms with a 6" heel. Again, the female staff in there were fine with me. There was quite a queue at the till and when I got to the front there was a young woman beside me who couldn't help notice the shoes I was buying because the girl at the till had opened the box and was checking the sizes were right. She smiled at me, not in a nasty way though, but for a split second I thought I'd been rumbled, but I just smiled back, payed for the shoes and left. When I got back to the carpark in Meadowhall I decided to try on some of the shoes I'd bought that day, it was getting late and there were very few cars around. I tried on all my shoes and even had a little walk in them around the car, constantly making sure I was close enough to dive into my car should I need to. I then decided to get rid of some of the sweetie wrappers from the car. There was a bin about 50 meters away from my car. I looked around making sure nobody was around and then walked to the bin wearing the 6" platforms I'd just got from Faiths. I swear I felt light headed as I walked further away from the car. The 'click, click, clicking' of my heels sounded so loud on the carpark concrete and seemed to echo around. I reached the bin and was walking back just as a car came driving past, I had to resist the urge to run back to the car and just carried on walking as the car drove right past me. Overall it was a great day. Some pics: Seduce mules - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3243342835/ Seduce mules - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3243342675/ Seduce mules - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3244172822/ Scream Oxfords - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3244173800/ Scream Oxfords - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3243343497/ Scream Oxfords - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3243343363/ Faith Platforms - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3243343247/ Faith Platforms - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3244173338/ Faith Platforms - http://www.flickr.com/photos/34924878@N07/3244173206/
Bubba136 Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Wow! Willow, thanks for relating all about your shopping trip. I like the styles you selected and I'm sure you will have many happy hours wearing them. I guess the next step would be to select a pair and wear them out and about one evening. While the first time will rattle your cage, the confidence builds with each successive time you go out wearing heels. Congratulations on overcoming your trepidation at shopping for heels for yourself. Being mentally comfortable in your own mind is the key to wearing heels in public.
Dawn HH Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Wow Willow!!! What a tremendously fine shopping day that you had and thanks for sharing all the fine shoes that you purchased that day. Cheers--- Dawn HH High Heeled Boots Forever!
loswabs Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Congratulations Willow, so glad you discovered the pleasure of buying heels from a shop. Now take the next step and try before you buy. For sure you won't be the first guy to try a pair of stilettos in New Look, Faith or anywhere else. I'm surprised the girls in dark kitten didn't ask you if you wanted to try them on. They definitely would be used to guys in stilettos, skintight PVC catsuits, dresses, wigs, the whole 9 yards. Seriously, don't worry about it It's such a great rush and far out weighs any negative thoughts once you've tried on your first pair in a shop. It's my opinion, no more, no less
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