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Shoe Horns

Irish4

Familiar Face
Messages
97
Location
Missouri
Does anybody still use a shoe horn? do you remember going in to buy your shoes and a salesman would actually measure your foot?.I truly do long for days when service was king .I have many old shoe horns that were my dad's and grandfather's
 

Lefty

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,639
Location
O-HI-O
I picked up one of these on ebay a year ago and I love it.
Col. Littleton website
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Geesie

Practically Family
Messages
717
Location
San Diego
I have a few cheap plastic ones from shoe stores. I use them whenever I wear dress shoes.

And as far as salesmen actually measuring your feet, I'm only 27 and I do remember that. (though it was probably because my mom tended to frequent old-fashioned service-oriented businesses)
 

JohnnyGringo

A-List Customer
Messages
353
Location
OH-IO
I use a shoe horn daily, regardless of the type of shoe. I certainly remember always being measured as a kid, and several better better shoe stores in my area still do.
 

rmrdaddy

One Too Many
Messages
1,217
Location
South Jersey
I've heard of the old x-ray machines they used at one time. I also heard that the unshielded devices caused quite a number of helath problems (as we couls imagine today)among workers of that era as well.
But at that time...Who knew??
 

Geesie

Practically Family
Messages
717
Location
San Diego
Yeah, my mom sometimes remarks that she's surprised everyone her age isn't dead from several kinds of cancer. The liberal use of radiation, dusting everything with DDT, etc.
 

Bourbon Guy

A-List Customer
Messages
374
Location
Chicago
You got it, CB! As a matter of fact, it is also better for your shoes as well. Doesn't bend down the back (whatever it is called) as quickly as jamming in without one. Hmmmmm. Shoe foreplay.
 

Queue

Familiar Face
Messages
89
Location
Washington, DC, Earth-616
Perhaps I'm going to the wrong stores but I've always gotten my feet measured when I buy shoes at Nordstrom. Also, as I have freak feet that are a full size apart, they will give me one in each proper size so they fit properly gratis. I love Nordstrom.
 

Bourbon Guy

A-List Customer
Messages
374
Location
Chicago
Queue said:
Perhaps I'm going to the wrong stores but I've always gotten my feet measured when I buy shoes at Nordstrom. Also, as I have freak feet that are a full size apart, they will give me one in each proper size so they fit properly gratis. I love Nordstrom.

Reminds me of the story about the guy wearing one black sock and one brown sock, and has another pair at home just like them.
 

WideBrimm

A-List Customer
Messages
476
Location
Aurora, Colorado
rmrdaddy said:
I've heard of the old x-ray machines they used at one time. I also heard that the unshielded devices caused quite a number of helath problems (as we couls imagine today)among workers of that era as well.
But at that time...Who knew??

I remember them well from when I was a kid in the fifties! It was a "game" to step up to the gizmo and look at your green skeleton feet! :D There in the shoe store. No shielding. No controls. Just step up to the machine, just like stepping up to a scale.
 

Irish4

Familiar Face
Messages
97
Location
Missouri
I was born in the sixties,so I missed the x ray machine!wow,I wished they still did that because I have a few people I would take to buy new shoes every day!...........
 

Irish4

Familiar Face
Messages
97
Location
Missouri
warning..................buying new shoes may cause drowsiness,weight loss,weakness,memory loss,blindness,constipation,weight gain,ed,nausea,hearing loss,dizziness,tingling sensation,skin discoloration,hair loss ........but them shoes look good on you......
 

Boodles

A-List Customer
Messages
425
Location
Charlotte, NC
My experience was the same as Widebrimm

WideBrimm said:
I remember them well from when I was a kid in the fifties! It was a "game" to step up to the gizmo and look at your green skeleton feet! :D There in the shoe store. No shielding. No controls. Just step up to the machine, just like stepping up to a scale.

Back in the old days some dept. stores had the x-ray machine accessible and where kids like me could play with it. Woo wee.

As several others already said I use shoe horns fairly often.
 

Bill Taylor

One of the Regulars
I always use a shoe horn. My favorite is one with a long handle. As has been mentioned several times, using a shoe horn is much easier on the shoes. I also use boot hooks to pull my boots on and a boot jack to take them. It's much better for boots. And easier than trying to "toe" them off.

My first memories of the X-ray machine is about 1938 or 1939; my mother had taken me to Leonard's Department Store in Fort Worth, Texas for new school shoes and they had a newly installed X Ray machine to see how the foot bones looked in shoe. Of course, it was necessary for me to check my feet out many times.

I had thought the Shoe X Ray devices were outlawed in about 1949, but from several posts, it seems like they must have continued in use up into the 50s. No matter the era, there is something out there to get us.

Bill Taylor
 

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