City Sports (Boston)

There are not a lot of opportunities to even go over to the ritzy side of my own town, but while on vacation I found the time to schedule in a visit to City Sports in Boston.  A recommendation had come with faint praise, that they had been an early sellers of Vibram Five Fingers, and therefore might have some of the newer minimal shoes available.  The place was near a restaurant we wanted to visit, so we made the stop.

The staff person I talked to was very friendly, familiar with VFFs and the other minimal shoes in the store, was interested in my homemade shoes, but didn't really have any information on shoes for hard to fit feet.

Shoes I looked at:

• Saucony Hattori - This shoe looked promising, but given that I was looking for a wet/slushy conditions shoe, the sales person thought the sole would be unsuitable for me and didn't even bring out any to try.
• New Balance Minimus - This was available, but looked like too much shoe for me to bother with.
• Vibram Five Fingers - I confirmed in person that the toe pocket lengths are not the right ratios for me, just as pictures had led me to believe.
• Merrell Trail Glove - The toebox allows more room than average for little toes, but had too much arch support for me.  The sole was more forgiving than the 
• Teva Nilch - This had a toebox similar in shape to the Trail Glove, but a flat sole.  Overall they felt much like my cheap wal-mart water shoes, but of sturdier construction, and better fit.  They have what appears to be water resistant fabric up the sides of the bottom half of the shoe, so it might do better in wet conditions than the water shoes that have mesh all the way down in places.  I bought a pair of these (a size larger than I used to wear.)  My fourth and fifth toes still feel a bit cramped compared to custom shoes, but they seem serviceable for poor weather.