Humanic on Mariahilferstrasse is a large store with better selection of lower priced and mid-range brands than their Kaertnerstrasse flagship in the First District. They carry several notable European and North American brands including Clarks, Converse, and Uggs, as well as lesser known footwear. Prices range between E15 and E200, the majority falling between E49 to E99. I showed up during their winter clearance sale which had all winter footwear up to 50% off, which made the prices much better. The women's section takes up two thirds of the store and the men's section is the back wall. The sale area was difficult to sort through because of mixed sizes, but the stock was well presented, tidy, and organized by style and colour. I easily located flat-soled boots and running shoes as I was looking for without any trouble. The main section is sorted by European sizes as indicated by good signage, and further back shelves had mixed size sale items. Salespeople are prevalent and helpful, even despite the language barrier with my elementary German. One friendly saleswoman was able to work with me to get the shoes I wanted after a harrowing day hobbling around the Hofburg in boots that were not up to the task of a long walk (or my socks rubbed me raw, either way), and the cashier at the front counter had beautiful English and a wonderful manner to confirm whether I wanted any protective sprays, had everything I needed, and a few other incidentals. I hate asking Austrians to speak English rather than German, but she didn't have a problem making sure that I was set and ready to walk around comfortably. Humanic had a good selection overall between boots, pumps, and casual shoes, but not much in the way of trainers. Their running shoes were limited mostly to Converse One Stars, severely overpriced Keds, and Skechers cross-trainers that have been proven not to work and subject to a class-action lawsuit for false advertising on their fitness/toning claims. I ended up desperation buying a pair of Skechers as the only running shoes in my size aside from a pair of opulent Le Coqs (French trainers) with extravagant gold buckles on the side that weren't really suitable for trotting around Viennese landmarks. Good service earns them three stars but I take off two for limited selection in runners and a rather high price point on their boots and shoes, more than I've seen elsewhere for other shops in this class and location. read more

I already know it is hard for me to find shoes in Vienna, but sometimes I still end up in Humanic, because it has stores in every corner of the city, and there is at least hope that among the numerous models I might also be able to select one. However, Humanic is quite strictly catering to the needs of certain target groups to which I simply don't belong. It seems that the stylish, light, comfy, cut in the coolest way of the season, no-hype leather shoes with trendy soles that don't make your feet look bigger, priced around 100-150 eur that you find on every corner in Italy or Spain, or interestingly - Berlin, are non-existant. If the shoes are Italian here, then it equals rather expensive and still not necessarily light, or comfy, not to mention cool. And that was the part of my review based on subjective taste. I could as well just not care, but I bought shoes here by mistake the other day, in a moment of shoe-despair, wanted to return them on the next day - and guess what - they don't give you your money back! The return of unused goods for money is so widepsread and normal in our offline and online world, that I first even thought it is their legal obligation towards a consumer (it is not, though). Each and every chain-store that I've had to deal with is offering it as standard procedure to attract and keep a customer from the tough competition. Not to mention that it is really not helping the environment to stimulate us even more to order and return (even free of charge!) on the Internet like that. What on earth is the purpose of an offline store any more? Yes, go ahead my carbon footprint, sorry. Because in a very legitimate way that you wouldn't believe still exists, they explain to you that you only get a Gutschein, which is valid for a very long time, and you are free to use it on the rest of their restricted offer whenever you want to. Except that I don't want to. They also let you know that the other shoe retailers in Vienna are handling their returns with Gutschein too. I haven't had the pleasure to return to them yet, but that information didn't comfort me either. And it gets better: you are only allowed to use this Gutschein in the stores, and not in their online shop. I would probably not even find anything there, but I was ready to hope I would. Luckily, it is not a lot of my money that is now lying in this company, while an unwanted voucher is waiting to be forgotten in my wallet. But this is a good example of shopping experience that I cannot recommend further. read more