Over the last few weeks, things have been progressing (although to the untrained eye it has been hard to see where!). Fred, our electrician has been hard at work stringing up meters and meters of wiring and conduit. After much planning around the labyrinthine ducting and pre-existing piping, a sprinkler system has been installed. The space has now reached a new phase: we are now looking at something that resembles a complete skeleton and we are getting ready to add the muscle and skin that will take the space from construction site to shoe store.

 As described in a previous post, the core of our overlaying design concept is a somewhat industrial or “found” idea. A lot of this can be seen in the exposed concrete on the floor and walls, but to really play out the concept we needed to find fixtures that would enhance and habilitate the structure itself. These objects will also become strong merchandising focal points- the points at which the design and architecture of our space will merge with the product it is designed to hold.

In recent years, The Kunitz’s have noticed a major shift in what folks have come to call a ‘shop’. In the past, a shoe store seemed to be more of a library- shoe profiles stacked up on walls like rows of books.

While this design effectively helps a customer choose an item, it plays to only one of our 5 senses: sight. What about our other senses- especially touch? While colour, shape and form often dictate perceived function, footwear has so much more to offer in terms of tactile comfort. Our sense of touch should be an important factor in how we “look” at shoes. Rich and soft leathers, precise or craft like stitching, abrasive or silky textiles all combine in footwear to tell a story of comfort, durability, and function. At Kunitz Shoes we feel that it’s time to bring shoes down off the wall and let them be felt and flexed; the dress shopper has always felt the fineness of a dress between her fingers, maybe it’s time to do the same with shoes!

The best way we could find to bring the shoes down to the people was to literally bring them down. For decades, boutiques have used a similar technique, by placing shoes at a lower than normal level.  Viewing shoes from above allows us to conceptualize their function. Instead of viewing the shoe from the side, in profile, we can now look down at the complete upper of the shoe, as if you were looking down at your own two feet.The other advantage of bringing shoes down to waist height is that they then invite us to hold, touch, and ply them.

So how best to get shoes off the wall and into our hands? We went antique shopping! Edmonton’s own “Old Strathcona Antique Mall”, (Gateway Blvd & 78th Avenue) proved to be a treasure trove of found and repurposed items that will suit our needs exactly. A pair of old Steamer trunks are a great size for a group of men’s dress shoes. A mid 19^th century dovetailed chest becomes a glowing platform for a collection of simple and elegant heels. And wouldn’t that Icelandic blanket box be the perfect place to put together a few examples of performance walking shoes? It felt great thinking about brining out all these dusty old boxes, bins and cases and re-purposing them to help display shoes.  Of course we will still have lots of shoes on the walls- a shoes store would be simply to chaotic without wall mounted shoe profiles, but for the best and boldest of our collections we felt like these unique (and antique!) platforms would help ensure that our shoes aren’t simply met by the eye- they will be picked up and cherished.