DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse

I cannot think of a time where I’ve been to DSW and walked out empty handed! It is a shoe lovers dream, and very affordable. You can find shoes for every occasion here, and if you’re lucky enough even get your shoes on sale! My only complaint would be that the men’s sale section is very small compared to the females.

DSW is heaven for shoe lovers. An entire warehouse filled with all types of shoes. I usually manage to find several pairs that I wind up buying, and it’s no skin off my back because the prices are pretty reasonable.
They have sneakers, flats, heels, platforms, wedges, boots, sandals, formal shoes, slip-​ons, etc. They also have a Mens section.
The parking lot is really strange and can sometimes be a pain to get into. But for the purchases I’ve gotten, it’s well worth it.

DSW stands for «Designer Shoe Warehouse». This is an interesting store; in some regards it’s unlike any other shoe store I’ve been to but in other regards it’s very «normal». It’s a big open room, laid out like a regular retail shoe store, but I’ve found that qualitatively it differs a lot from other stores.
The strong point of this store is stylish, comfortable, simple footwear, especially, casual shoes. The store does carry some athletic shoes and some dress shoes but neither of these seemed to be strong points. They have a larger selection of basic casual sneakers, especially those with a retro look. As someone who thinks that a lot of athletic footwear has too much padding, I tend to prefer these sorts of shoes anyway; I like this store because there are more shoes here that I’d actually be comfy walking long distances in.
Prices here are moderate. Everything is below the list retail price, but only slightly (at most 30% on the shoes I looked at, most discounts closer to 20%). Not cheap enough to be a discount store, but not price gouging like a mall store either. I did not notice any sales or specials… I think the model here is to have slightly low prices on all items.
This place is a bit hit-​or-​miss, but I’d say more hit than miss. Everything they have in stock is out on display. They have a wide variety of sizes and many of the more popular models of shoe they will have in more than one color or style. I wear a typical shoe size and I was able to find the exact size I wear in roughly 2/​3rds of the shoes I wanted to try on.
The staff here was really friendly.
Why not five stars?
* Everything, I swear, literally every single shoe I saw here was made in China. Give me a break… at least carry a few domestically-​made shoes or at least shoes from other countries, I know they’re out there because I’ve bought them.
* The space is unnecessarily large, spread out on the inside, and has massive ceilings… and this seems a bit wasteful for me. The store could be fit in a more compact location with a lower ceiling, and they’d probably pay lower rent – which would mean they could have lower prices. I don’t appreciate having to pay for grandiosity.
* Car-​oriented suburban location. Although it’s conveniently located for car access, near the 273 exit off I-​95, I chose to live in Newark so I could walk places, and I don’t appreciate having to drive out to suburban strip malls like this one to do my shopping. There’s literally nothing walkable about the area where this store is located, and again, I don’t like the idea of my money going towards supporting this sort of development.