The company "Runners Point" (sic! no apostrophe), of which this is a franchise, is proud of how…read morethey train their sales staff. Unfortunately, social competence occasionally seems to fall short in the process. When I convinced my husband to go and look for walking shoes here (against his wishes, he considers treadmill analysis and the like as newfangled gimmicks), it was very obvious that the sales assistant wasn't really interested in him as a customer. Quite the opposite was the case when a young, dynamic jogger entered a short while after us - he received the full treatment - whereas the not-so-young walker was more or less left to his own devices. We basically did the treadmill analysis without his help. A few weeks later it was my turn. Since I believe in the ideas behind Runners Point, I was prepared to give the shop a second chance. Maybe it helped that I went there on a normal working day and not on the weekend. The sales assistant (a different one) really tried to help me, yet capitulated with my (admittedly problematic) feet. He advised me to come back another day when a regularly visiting orthopaedic footwear specialist would be present. I did that and the specialist was equally puzzled, he thought my insoles might not be correct and simply refused to sell me a pair of shoes until I had gone back to my orthopaedist and sorted this out. He printed out photos from the treadmill analyser to take along. As it turned out, he was right - my insoles were not correctly adjusted to my feet. I had new ones made, went back to Runners Point and after a renewed analysis I finally found a pair of shoes that were perfect. A big compliment from me to a sales assistant who recognised his limitations and referred me to a specialist. Another compliment to the specialist who did not want to make a sale at any cost but was concerned about the customer. By the way, a few days later I came across the same pair of shoes for 10EUR less. As long as the service is good (good advice, treadmill analysis, 14 day exchange policy no matter what condition the shoe is in) I don't mind paying that difference.

If you want cheap shoes, you have to go somewhere else. The footwear in this shop is neither cheap…read morenor cheaply made. However, you have to pay for this quality in workmanship - if you rather buy for fashion and up-to-date design, again: this is not the shop for you, although you might be surprised how fashionable even orthodpaedically correct shoes can look. There always will be people who need good, sturdy and comfortable shoes; either because they are on their feet all day, have to walk long distances or need orthopaedically correct footwear. I myself need shoes with removable inner sole and this definitely limits the range of available footwear. Which is exactly why I patronize this particular shop. The sales personel is very knowledgable, however, they might not be able to communicate this in English.