- Mar 25, 2007
- 1,310
- 10
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A sign of the vanishing middle class, I think.
Back when I was a kid, in the olden days, most people had only a couple pairs of shoes: Everyday, Formal Dress, and rain/snow boots. These shoes were intended to last quite a while, and as such, you were expected to maintain them and polish them. You bought tins of Kiwi polish, saddle soap and mink oil, and when they got scratches or scuffs, you polished them. A good pair of shoes was expected to last an adult several years, so you were encouraged by the household women to pick sensible shoes, i.e. low-heeled not-too-flashy in neutral colors.
DH and I both grew up in this era, and we have had the same tins of saddle soap, mink oil and polish for some time, and it was finally time to purchase some more. You'd think this would be a simple task, as polish and stuff used to be found at every five and dime.
Nope. Most of the five-and-dime stores have been pushed out of the market by drugstore chains, which do not, apparently, carry shoe polish. Neither did Wal-mart or Target, although this was sort of understandable given that they don't really have shoes that are good enough to polish. Neither, however, did the mall shoe or leather goods stores--and you'd really think that they would have such things. They had silicone sprays for waterproofing, no polish.
Finally found basic colors of polish and mink oil at a very old-fashioned local grocery. Not the every-color-of-shoes selection that I recall from childhood, of course. The manager sort of shook her head, saying she didn't get many people asking anymore and they probably wouldn't bother to re-stock. The kiddies staffing the other stores didn't even know what shoe polish was, mostly.
Thinking on the various shoe stores I had observed, it finally dawned on me that
1. Most shoes for mass consumption these days are not made to be polished--fabric or plastic or polywhatever. They are also made so cheap that there is really no point to polishing them even if they are leather: the soles and heels (or your aching toes) will wear out before they get appreciably scuffed. They're made to be worn and thrown away.
2. Of the people who can afford good shoes worth polishing, who care about the state of their footwear and purchase sensible shoes, they can also afford to hire someone else to do their polishing for them. They don't spend their nights smelling toluene from the shoes drying at the foot of the bed.
The middle class, who used to buy good shoes meant to last and then cared for the things themselves, are vanishing to the point that stocking store shelves with retail products intended for their consumption has become a thing of the past.
I swear, I fear for the day when I go to a grocery store and cannot buy flour because stores only stock ready-made bread and cake and expect that poor people all eat at McDonald's anyway...
Back when I was a kid, in the olden days, most people had only a couple pairs of shoes: Everyday, Formal Dress, and rain/snow boots. These shoes were intended to last quite a while, and as such, you were expected to maintain them and polish them. You bought tins of Kiwi polish, saddle soap and mink oil, and when they got scratches or scuffs, you polished them. A good pair of shoes was expected to last an adult several years, so you were encouraged by the household women to pick sensible shoes, i.e. low-heeled not-too-flashy in neutral colors.
DH and I both grew up in this era, and we have had the same tins of saddle soap, mink oil and polish for some time, and it was finally time to purchase some more. You'd think this would be a simple task, as polish and stuff used to be found at every five and dime.
Nope. Most of the five-and-dime stores have been pushed out of the market by drugstore chains, which do not, apparently, carry shoe polish. Neither did Wal-mart or Target, although this was sort of understandable given that they don't really have shoes that are good enough to polish. Neither, however, did the mall shoe or leather goods stores--and you'd really think that they would have such things. They had silicone sprays for waterproofing, no polish.
Finally found basic colors of polish and mink oil at a very old-fashioned local grocery. Not the every-color-of-shoes selection that I recall from childhood, of course. The manager sort of shook her head, saying she didn't get many people asking anymore and they probably wouldn't bother to re-stock. The kiddies staffing the other stores didn't even know what shoe polish was, mostly.
Thinking on the various shoe stores I had observed, it finally dawned on me that
1. Most shoes for mass consumption these days are not made to be polished--fabric or plastic or polywhatever. They are also made so cheap that there is really no point to polishing them even if they are leather: the soles and heels (or your aching toes) will wear out before they get appreciably scuffed. They're made to be worn and thrown away.
2. Of the people who can afford good shoes worth polishing, who care about the state of their footwear and purchase sensible shoes, they can also afford to hire someone else to do their polishing for them. They don't spend their nights smelling toluene from the shoes drying at the foot of the bed.
The middle class, who used to buy good shoes meant to last and then cared for the things themselves, are vanishing to the point that stocking store shelves with retail products intended for their consumption has become a thing of the past.
I swear, I fear for the day when I go to a grocery store and cannot buy flour because stores only stock ready-made bread and cake and expect that poor people all eat at McDonald's anyway...
