How to Buy Shoes for Large Feet

When you're a woman with large feet, sometimes it feels like you're missing out on one of the simple pleasures of being female: shoe shopping. Your coworkers might rave giddily about a department store's half off shoe sale, but you know in advance they won't carry your size. Luckily many catalogs and websites have tremendous selections of women's large-size shoes. Here's how to buy shoes for large feet.

Instructions

1. Find a shoe store in your area that caters to large sizes. The ideal shoe shopping experience is to walk into a store, pick a variety of items that interest you and try them each on so you can see what's most comfortable and what flatters your legs the best. It's worth a drive across town a few times a year to get that in-store experience.

2. Shop at regular shoe stores to get an up-close look at the merchandise and ask the salesperson to order the shoe in your size. Some shoe stores like Marmi carry a limited inventory in the mall but online or via catalog, you can find sizes up to 13W. Nordtrom also can order large and plus-sized shoes.

3. Shop websites catering to large size shoes, like UniqueFeet.com, DreamShoes.com and 6pm.com. General shoe websites such as Shoebuy.com carry a greater size selection than your typical mall shoe store.

4. Get shoes custom-made. This is an expensive option, but this way you're sure to get what you want and at a much better level of quality than mass-produced shoes. An outstanding shoemaker can create shoes that are less likely to cause podiatry problems--since people with large or wide feet often are prone to medical issues average-footed women are less likely to suffer from.