Famous Footwear

I went in Famous Footwear to purchase some dress shoes. I walked in with my daughter and no one greeted me. I proceed to look at shoes. A sales associate by the name of Kathy did not offer me any assistance. Her and another sales associate old white woman with a mess up wig followed us around the store. Neither one of them offer me any assistance. My daughter and I noticed that every single isle we walked down they followed right behind us and not once did they offer assistance. Non minority customers that came in were greeted and offered assistance. Finally my daughter and I went to the other side of the store to see they were actually following us and without a doubt they were right behind us. Beware to any African American people beware you will be followed, harassed and treated as if you’re a criminal. I would never go back to this store. I feel horrible my child had to experience blatant racial profiling and racism. It’s sad never judge a book by its cover I work in corporate America making six figures.

I had originally purchased some Bear Paw boots online as a Christmas gift for my 15 yr. old sister. I’ve purchased shoes online with Famous Footwear before for myself and my family, and I have never had any issues before, especially if the item needed to be returned. Given the fact that I live in the middle of BFE where the nearest store is literally 90 miles away, shopping online is most convenient.
On Christmas day, my sister opened her gift and was ecstatic to be given a pair of boots in her size. (My sister has very big feet and finding shoes for her can be a challenge sometimes) When she tried them on in the living room (key words: TRIED and LIVING ROOM) we were disappointed to find that they were just a tad bit too small. Her big toes were being squished. My sister immediately took them off, set them on the floor next to her, and proceeded to open up more X-​mas gifts. When everyone was finished opening up gifts, I placed the boots back in the original packaging and put them in a safe place.
Rather than ship the boots back, I decided to make a special trip to the Famous Footwear store in Cedar Park, TX (in the Austin area) with my sister to exchange the boots for something else. If she wasn’t able to find anything, then we’d get the money back and explore other stores. When we arrived at the store, a young gentleman took the boots and offered to give us time to look around. We began looking around the store, but I forgot to ask what the exchange rate was. I went back up to the counter and this time there was a woman (the store manager) talking with the gentleman about the boots. When I asked what the exchange rate was, the woman replied that she was not able to take the boots back, because they had been worn. I explained to her the boots had never been worn, but that my sister tried them on. When the manager opened up the box, she said that shoes had grass and dirt on them, like they had been worn outside. I examined the boots and noticed that one boot had a smudge of dust around the ankle area and both had bits of grass on the bottoms. (Probably from laying the boots down on the hardwood floor) I brushed the boots off and told her that there was nothing wrong with them.
Instead of executing professional customer service, the store manager (I think her name is Kathy?) insisted that the boots were worn and that she was unable to resell them, because of their appearance. I again explained that my sister couldn’t possibly wear the boots, because they didn’t even fit her and that she only tried them on once then set them briefly on the floor in the living room. The manager said that she understood, but still couldn’t re-​sell the boots, because of their condition. She could, however, issue me store credit which she explained that that wasn’t something she had to do. She was offering to do that at her discretion. At that point, I was seeing red, because she was basically calling me a liar and indicating that she didn’t have to me any favors. However, my sister wanted to look around to see if she could find anything, so I held my tongue. Of course, we didn’t find anything that would remotely fit her, and I didn’t want to take the chance and order something that may or may not fit. So instead of wasting my time arguing with the store manager, I decided to take the boots back to another Famous Footwear store nearby and call the district manager. Lone and behold, the Famous Footwear store in Round Rock, TX gladly accepted the boots with no problem. I didn’t even inform the employees of the incident at the Cedar Park store. Cindy and Danny were the ones that assisted us and gave us our money back, so kuddos to them. I will definitely be shopping there the next time I’m in the area. Also, the district manager got back with me the following day. He was polite and even surprised that the issue had resolved itself. He told me that he’d make sure that the manager at Cedar Park wouldn’t make the same again. :0) Otherwise, I hope she finds a job outside of customer service.

I have a confession to make, I hate shoe shopping. Yes, this woman detests shoes. Happiness to me is bare feet. Unfortunately the rest of the world would not appreciate me going to work in bare feet.
This store did not make my shopping experience miserable. It is located in the 1890’s shopping area near the North East end. Hardly any other customers in the shop. A couple of employees by the register. Both greeted me as I walked in (Nice Touch).
It was neatly laid out and very clean. I spotted my size and headed to that rack. Found three pairs of comfortable work shoes and wanted to try them on. This is where they lose a star, I couldn’t find a chair or seat. So standing up in the aisle, I maneuver my shoe off and try to slip the new one on. Three times I did this and had to change which foot because I had challenges getting the cardboard out of the toes of all the Right foot shoes. Decided to take one black pair that fit well and a beige pair.
The pricing is pretty decent. The ladies at the register were very pleasant. It probability took me just as long to write this review as I was in the store.

I come here often to look but have never purchased anything until today. The sales lady was very helpful. She didn’t follow me throughout the store, popping up at random spots. She was very thorough in answering my questions and didn’t push items on me but did advise me on a sale that I had missed out on. She’s a keeper. I’ll be returning again soon.