(Wearing: Dries van Noten jumper- how beautiful is this jumper it has blue sequins sewn into the aran knit on the sleeves must do a close up soon, M&S trousers, Dior shoes, Fendi bag, Chanel pearls and Louis Vuitton scarf)
Thanks to everyone who gave their advice in the last post over which pair of Louboutin’s I should go for but I finally chose…

The Roland Zips!!!

In fact, after a very long story of which I will tell you in a moment – but you want to see the shoes first, right? It was very easy to choose. I decided to wear a pretty boring kind of outfit, still smart and chic but nothing outlandish, the kind of outfit which is practical really and that I like to wear a lot. I tried on a nude pair very similar to the Elisa (they didn’t have the nude Elisa in Harvey Nicks) and I tried on these, I then tried on pretty much every other pair of Louboutins too studded, leopard, chained, glittery but these were the pair that I just knew were THE ONES! That doesn’t mean I won’t be starting a nude Louboutin fund for the summer but for now these were just what I wanted, yay!!

As this is my first ever pair I was pretty excited to find the tiny dust bag with spare heels in the box, it is little details like this that really make it for me.
NOW FOR THE RANT!
Ok so we know this story has a happy ending but OMG what a pain in the ass it was to get these shoes.
I actually went into Harvey Nichols first but they had not gotten their A/W order yet, as Manchester Selfridges doesn’t stock Louboutins I had to go to the Trafford Centre (I seriously hate this place it is like a Mall but really, really huge and always packed full and a real pain to get to). Anyway I wanted to try them on rather than buy online as I didn’t know what size I would need in this brand. I went with my mum and they had a lovely range, but seriously out of about 7 pairs I wanted to try they only had one pair in my size – which happened to be the black patent Elisa. They were nice but just weren’t what I wanted. I tried the Roland Zips in a size too small and really liked them so asked if they could order me a pair in but apparently their system was down so they couldn’t check the stock at other stores, I did ask couldn’t they just phone but I guess not, so I was given a number to ring myself in a few days when their system might be working. The sales assistant was lovely so I know this wasn’t her fault but if it had been me I would have rang at least London Selfridges who have a huge stock, it wasn’t busy and I really believe in going the extra mile for customers. If they had found me a pair I would have bought them! I just can’t believe that a store so big had such little stock. There was another lady in there who was also turned away as they didn’t have her size either.
So I got home and figured the size 39 were OK so I would be safe to buy online, Net a Porter had sold out in my size but Browns had a full stock so I decide to place an order. Hmm easier said than done, you choose your size and instead of adding to basket it says to ‘email to purchase’ and Outlook email pops up, but I don’t use Outlook email and there is no actual email address. I have this problem quite often with pop up emails. So I ring the store and after being passed around 3 different people, I end up with one very lovely sales assistant who says the email is just a function they have for certain brands but she doesn’t actually have the email address that should have popped up, so she gives me the general website email, which I email but to no response. So I try Matches who also have an email to purchase but an actual form pops up but they don’t have my size!!
Since it was a few weeks since I went to Harvey Nics I decided to give them a ring and see if they have the Roland’s in stock, oh yes actually they do as they just got their A/W delivery they don’t have a 39 but do have a 38.5 which I can come in and try and always order the 39 if needed. As it happens the 38.5 fits just fine and off I hop with my new shoes.
So there is one underlying issue I have with all this, why was it so hard to spend my money?
We keep being told stores are suffering because no one is spending but in actual fact there are plenty of people who want to spend. Selfridges had to turn away myself and another customer as they didn’t have the sizes in stock and didn’t want the extra hassle of phoning other stores, they also lost out on a sale as they did have a pair my mum wanted but the point of going was for my birthday so she didn’t want to buy any if I couldn’t too. That is at least £1,500 in sales lost!
Then there are the online stores NAP is a huge online store which must have more stock coming and going than anywhere and yet Browns and Matches have this insane emailing system in place – which I can only guess is to stock check prior to taking an order – which in my case is totally unusable and I am sure in a lot of other cases people just didn’t want to wait or want the hassle. I have a lot of business experience and one of the first rules of sales is to make it easy for the customer to buy.
When there is a recession on surely every sale is even more important for the store but it is also more important for the consumer. When luxuries are fewer then when you do decide to indulge you want it to feel like a treat, you want to enjoy the entire experience be it online or in store. If the Harvey Nics pair of shoes hadn’t been right I would most likely have just given up and gone over to Chanel where I know the experience would be second to none. As it happens the staff at Harvey Nics were fantastic and I couldn’t have asked for more, I will be going there in future for my Louboutin’s that’s for sure!
But enough of that I got my shoes, can’t wait to wear them!