Photos by Marissa Gonzalez.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Shoe Company, located at 5 Spring St. in Saratoga Springs, opened on June 1 and since then has sold well over 700 pairs of their handmade shoes. “Cobblestone to cocktails" is the shoe's motto and owner of the store Cheryl Mcswiggin truly stands by it.
The Saratoga Shoe Company is a sister store of the larger brand, Charleston Shoe Company. Other locations include Charleston, N.C., Nantucket, Mass., stores across Florida among others across the country; however, items are wholesaled as well. Sister stores include Sedona Shoe Company located in Arizona and Spring Lake Shoe Company in New Jersey.
“Well, I had heard about the comfort level of these shoes on the Today Show years ago. Kathy Lee Gifford lived in Nantucket, Mass., at the time and she was promoting the shoe because she couldn’t believe how comfortable they were but then I just forgot about it for a while,” Mcswiggin said.
“So we were vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and there was a Charleston shoe store that had just opened and we went in and my feet were killing me... I went and tried them on; I couldn’t believe how comfortable they were,” she added.
The brand is all about comfort. According to Mcswiggin the soles are made of rubber and covered with padded suede footbeds. The tops are made with elastic uppers and in most cases form to your feet.
“The shoe is a lifestyle brand because of its comfort level. It’s stylish, it’s hand washable, machine washable... They’re handmade shoes for the modern woman,” Mcswiggin said.
There is no shortage of styles: between summer shoes, flats, two to three-inch heels/wedges, sandals, loafers and even various boot styles for the fall/winter season. There are 14 different colors just for the classic shoe, called “Cannon;” it is a best seller.
“You can come in here and pick a shoe for pretty much any occasion and people do; they leave with several pairs of shoes,” she added.
“We are a walking city, we do have the racetrack, we don’t have a lot of shoe stores here and I thought the way to do this is to not just have a couple styles but to bring in the line. Show the spring/summer line, show their fall/winter line, bring in a good representation of the line so that people understand how comfortable they are and get to know the shoe,” Mcswiggin said.
As far as the business goes for the new storefront McSwiggin says “It’s good, we’re new so people have to get to know us and know where we are and know about the shoe. We’ve had a very good response... I’m hoping we have continued success as we go into the fall and I’m hoping our customers will take to that as well.”
