Lovely Experience, Friendly Staff (Brantano)

Member Name: suz1584

Product:	Brantano
Date:	01/11/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely Staff. They had wedding shoes for me

Disadvantages: Not a lot of choice

I'm now buying the finally items for my wedding and realised that I still hadn't found any wedding shoes. I decided I didn't want to wear heels that were too high as I'd be wearing them all day. (I'm still on two minds whether to have my trainers hidden somewhere in case my feet get sore whilst dancing.)

Last week I went to Inverness to go round the shops and have a look for shoes which actually turned out to be harder than expected, a lot of shops don't stock white or ivory shoes which was a slight disappointment.

I decided to try Brantano as a last attempt to get a pair instead of going home to search online for some.

Brantano in Inverness is located at the Inshes Retail Park next to Matalan. It's an area out with the city centre and would be easier to take your car up or a bus. It is a bit far to walk there but it can be done and takes about half an hour to walk there.

There is plenty of parking outside the store which is free parking so it's a bonus shopping here instead of going into the centre of Inverness where you have to pay everywhere you could park.

So going into the store on Wednesday afternoon my first impressions were that it was quite dark, this is mainly down to no windows for the store so it looked shut at first. Once the automatic doors opened though I knew I could carry on and see what I could find.

Passing the tills I was in a world of my own when I heard two people saying hi. I looked up and noticed it was the manager and the sales assistant. That instantly perked me up on such a miserable typical rainy day in Scotland. I smiled and carried on into the store.

I had been in the store many years before so I knew that all shoes were set out according to sizes. I have size 8 feet so had to walk right to the back of the shop to find shoes in my size. I have to say I like them having things set out in sizes, at least you know if you fall in love with a pair of shoes you won't be told that you can't get them because there's none in your size in the stock room.

Finally at the right aisle I decided to start looking up and down at all the shoes and noticed that although the store was really big there wasn't a great deal of choice for each shoe size. Finally I found a white pair of shoes with a small heel and decided to try them on.

The shop has loads of seating areas about at the end of each aisles and then more right at the back of the store so I doubt you would have a problem looking for a seat even if they were busy. The day I was in was surprisingly quiet.

The other thing I liked about this shop was they had the pair of shoes on the shop floor, so there is one on display and underneath that there is a shoe box with the other shoe in it. So again you don't have to wait for the staff to go to the store room for you to get the pair to try on. Once I had the pair of shoes on I checked them in the mirror and again noticed they had more than enough mirrors around for people to use. So far I was really impressed with this store and I wondered why I didn't come in here more often.

I decided that these were the shoes for me and checked the price. Only £18 so my experience in this shop was just getting better and better. I just grabbed the box of the shelf and went to the till to buy them.

The staff were so friendly and chatted to me throughout the whole payment which was really nice as this doesn't really happen in shops much anymore. They did offer me to get Brantano card and save 10% but I refused. It seems that every store as a store card nowadays and I am forever refusing them, it does get slightly annoying now that they keep asking.

There was also a sale the day I was in. A lot of the shoes were reduced in price but they also had another offer that you can trade old for new shoes. This meant if you took in a pair of your old shoes you would get £10 off the next purchase if you spend £50 or more. It's a really good idea as the old shoes you hand in are then sent over to an African trainer to repair and polish.

Overall

I would definitely use again. Ok the shoes aren't amazing quality but for the price they are definitely worth it. I do remember why I never used to use them, it was because they used to e too over-priced but now the shoes seem to be a lot cheaper than what they used to be.

The staff were lovely and my whole experience in the shop was fantastic. I don't know if this may also be because they were one of very few shops in Inverness to actually stock white shoes so it stopped me having to spend all night looking for some online.

The shop had wide aisles which were great so you wouldn't feel pushed about if the shop was busy. I also notice that the shop was really clean and there wasn't a shoe out of place. Many stores I've been to have had shoes and boxes lying all over the floor but this shop was completely clear on the floor. I am really impressed with this store and will no doubt shop here again.

Summary: I got my shoes at a great price