If there was ever a Hall of Fame for footwear veterans Art Brown would surely be one of the first to go in. Go check out his story.

Why is he special? He’s retiring at the age of 90 after spending the last 60 years running Browns Shoe Store. What a great story and inspiration. Arts’ generation is full of great people; I’m jealous and hope that someday I can provide the same inspiration for folks younger than me. You’ll pretty much know what kind of person Art is when you read the first paragraph of the story.

A lifetime of unlocking the same door each morning, turning on the same lights and starting the coffee for visitors sure to drop by ended officially Sunday as Art Brown closed his shoe store.

Starting the coffee, ah that’s called hospitality and you rarely find it in today’s faced paced profit driven business world unless you’re getting schmoozed.

Congratulations Art and enjoy the Christmas Trees.

From the amazing charitable contributions department.  The full article is on the WMCTV web site.

I think it is. This all started last year when Endless and Piperlime launched if you ask me.

Zappos had enjoyed a phenominal run at the top of the online footwear space with the likes of onlineshoes.com and shoes.com and they’re still at the top but Endless and Piperlime have to be eating into their market share in addition to Zappos’ profitability by offering aggressive 2 way free shipping programs and innovative offers such as paying the customer to choose overnight shipping.  Let’s face it, shipping is a cost center and companies can’t give away overnight shipping unless they’ve got very aggressive plans to eat someone’s market share big time.

Last week, Zappos took a step to protect their turf with the aquisition of 6PM.com which is another top footwear web site. I wonder if this aquisition is going to be the start of a race to see which online footwear retailer is going to take 1, 2 and 3.

The next 8-12 Months is going to be an interesting ride.

If you were awaiting the release of the Air Zoom Vick V, Nike’s latest Michael Vick line, don’t hold your breathe.  Nike has decided to suspend the release for the time being. 

Payless is recalling a kids shoe that resembles the Croc but features Dora The Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants, Hello Kitty, Coasters Lighted Car Compel, and Cambridge Mary Jane. The plastic rivets on the shoes cause a choking hazard.

 Visit CPSC site for details.

Do you love your shoes so much that you call them ladies and introduce them to each other?  According to this article, Kelly Rowland, former Destiny’s Child singer does.

Have you heard the one about the two crooks (plead guilty) that got busted for smuggling $69M in counterfeit nikes into the U.S.? No? According to the Arizona Daily Star they got caught last summer with 135,000 pairs of shoes.

There is no dispute on the 135K pair of shoes.

Authorities seized 78 sea cargo containers packed with counterfeit goods worth more than $69 million.

Uh, OK, can you spot the problem with this quote from the Arizona Daily Star article? Figured it out yet? Here, take a look at this:

So, how is it that these Nike’s were valued to be $511 per pair; am I missing something?