To deter theft, shoe stores put only one of a pair of shoes on display. Crooks, however, have them beaten: they simply hunt for the same pair in two stores, each with a different foot on the shelf. [NYPost]

  • Sean Nelson

    Maybe they should put non-functioning display models out, like with electronics.

    • pKp

      Most people like to try the things before they buy them.

      • http://dbcooper.livejournal.com P.F. Bruns

         Funny you should mention that: not only do I always try on shoes before buying, but I’m much less likely to buy electronics before I try them.

  • Sxe

    Seems like it would be easy to switch to an industry standard of displaying only the left shoe.

    • Conspirator

      Exactly what I was thinking.  Or if there are some big chains, like Foot Locker, that insist on showing left or right at all their stores, just agree that left shoes will be odd sizes and right shoes will be even sizes.  This really is an easy problem to solve.

      • http://twitter.com/ingoschi Ingo Schildmann

         This should be an evolutionary process. If more shops display left than right shoes, the shops with the right shoes are more frequently a theft target.

      • Wreckrob8

        Most people have a larger left foot. Many shops display the left foot so people can try them first without assistance. If they displayed the right shoe they could potentially lose sales.

        • penguinchris

          I don’t know about that… I have a (sometimes frustratingly) larger right foot and I shop for shoes at Nordstrom Rack frequently. This is convenient because I like the shoes and the prices… and they put only the right shoes out for display and that’s consistent across all their locations.

          That said… there’s not really anything stopping you from stealing the shoes there because there is a counter you go up to to ask for the left shoe, you’re free to do whatever you want with them after you get the left shoe (such as go someplace else in the store and try them on or whatever), and there usually aren’t non-removable security tags.

    • Erik Postma

       Before reading this article just now, I always just assumed that there already was a standard, for this reason.

    • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

      Such a policy would have long ago spawned a cool fashion trend if said policy existed.

  • it194j

    Probably not gonna help: 
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idHlk8mTd9Y

  • Mike Benza

    I used to work in Modell’s, a sporting goods store in the northeast US.  The policy there was to always display the left shoe.  Every one of our competitors in the area also only displayed the left shoe.  I didn’t realize this policy didn’t exist outside of my area.