Saager's Shoe Store sale... a slice of Americana...

I spent the week between Christmas and New Years relaxing and doing family oriented activities.  One of those activities included shoe shopping — shoe shopping, yes, shoe shopping!!!

Saager’s Shoe Store, a locally owned business, in Milton-Freewater, Oregon (eight miles from Walla Walla) has a semi-annual shoe sale that starts the day after Christmas.  My wife Jill and my daughter Charlotte both had some worn-out shoes that they were hoping to replace.  Since I had dedicated the week to doing family oriented activities, I went with them — shoe shopping.

Saager’s Shoes is known for high quality leather shoes with appropriate prices so their sales draw a crowd… the sale shoes are displayed on long open shelves with crowds of women around them.

I had to wait until only Charlotte and Jill were looking at the rows of shoes...

This event is actually part shoe sale – part welcome home event.  I heard any number of people greeting acquaintances and finding out what they were up to… Charlotte lives in Tacoma and talked to a childhood friend that is living in New York City…

Once I learned the “shoe dance” — I made myself useful by returning shoes to the racks and finding different sizes.  The “shoe dance”?  — well it is part turning sideways and wiggling your way up to the sales racks and it is part trying not to bump into people…

The sale is pretty much self-serve so the store clerks just kind of stand back and help as needed.  I asked one of them why everyone seemed to be smiling and she said because their feet feel so good!!!  I think that people were looking for a good deal and/or that more importantly they were enjoying a slice of “small home-town Americana”.

Even though Jill found a pair of shoes and Charlotte didn’t, we all had a great time!