I’m just back from a long-ish trip to the lovely city of Seattle, and what can I say–I’m in love! I’m an East Coast gal, through and through, but seeing Seattle made me doubt my allegiance. True enough, I was lucky enough to get some freaky weather, where by “freaky” I of course mean “sunny”–a rare occurrence, I was assured, in the life of the otherwise easy-going Seattlites.

Seattle ranked high also according to another measurement in my book–one you won’t likely find in Zagat or Michelin, but one you deeply, deelpy care about: it scored really well on my Shoe-O-Meter™–the scale according to which I measure cities as shoe-friendly, or rather, shoe-lover - friendly. On that scale, consider New York a five-shoe-star city, with its abundant offerings; Philadelphia, where I live right now, probably ranks an aspiring three on that scale (barely there, if you ask me). But Seattle? Oh Seattle approached four, I would say. Not only is Seattle the home of the Giant Shoe Museum (which you’ll find deep in the belly of Pike Place Market), but also the place where an intrepid young John W. Nordstrom, fresh off the boat from Sweden, eventually set up a famous shoe store which bloomed into the multi-billion retail giant that we all know and love today. I scoured the sales racks both at Nordstrom and at Nordstrom Rack (oh! many hours of delicious fondling, gazing, trying, handling, sizing, and otherwise drooling over some of the choice selections). I almost wanted to make out with this shoe, ironically entitled ‘Bad Girl’:

Ok, and maybe I licked it, a little (well, I wanted to, anyway)–but I remembered I can’t honestly walk in those heels and regretfully bid adieu to my plush rosy-cheeked paramour.

Apart from Nordstrom, Seattle’s shoe-star rating is maintained by a large supply of walk-friendly shoe-stores, a variety of choice upscale boutiques, some other large department stores such as Macy’s, the Shoefly Guy chain. A most excellent selection that did my heart good.

I returned to my two-and-a-half shoe-star city with renewed energies and revitalized shoe lust. Philly may not compare to NY or Seattle in terms of footwear retail, but by golly, I’m going to make the best of it. And if all else fails, I’ll always have the Internets!

(Btw, the Nanette Lepore ‘Bad Girl’ Sandal is currently on sale for $203, 40% off, at Nordstrom).