Howard’s Shoes For Children

The reason for my low rating is not because their stuff is overpriced. I mean, hello. It’s Stanford Shopping Center! How the hell do you think they pay their rent? Also service is indifferent but I didn’t really care.
No, what really bothers me is that they DON’T tell you that you CANNOT GET A REFUND! Only store credit. I didn’t think any businesses still had that ridiculous policy. What’s worse than the antiquated, onerous policy is that they don’t even tell you about it! I only knew because someone else posted.
When I made my purchase, I waited to see if they would tell me. Nope. They didn’t. So I asked and they reluctantly told me, no refunds, only store credit.
The policy sucks as does their sneaky, slimy policy of omitting to tell every customer about this policy before any purchase is made.

Just had picked up a pair of stride rite shoes at Nordstrom 20 minutes before walking by this store. We went in to look around and we were helped right away. We found a better color of stride rite than the Nordstrom store so we purchased the pair from this store with the plan to return the other pair to nordstroms later. I was happy until I came home and realized they charged 20% ABOVE the full retail price of stride rites website and anywhere else that sells them!!! Everyone prices this shoe at $ 42 yet they charged me $ 49.99!!! I am so upset! I feel so ripped off. On top of that there are no refunds-​only exchanges! Exchanges for another overly priced shoe? When I left the store I felt good about giving business to a local business but now I feel so ripped off and taken advantage of — I will NEVER shop here again AND warn anyone I know!

The service was poor and the did not mention the FACT THAT THEY DO NOT REFUND. Only exchange. After putting the wrong shoes in my bag, they would not give me my money back. They will only exchange for more horribly overpriced shoes.

It’s very OVERPRICED. At Striderite selling for $ 48 is $ 57 here. The problem is they don’t ever put the prices on the display pair so you get the sticker shock when you pay for it. The sales are helpful enough especially for special needs children.

horrible experience. store employee was extremely rude, the shoes were overpriced by almost double and the selection was lackluster at best. I wouldn’t return, you could find everything you’re looking at here at a big box store for half the price and 10x better customer service. Save yourself the hassle and time and go to nordstrom or shop online.

I brought my 4-​year-​old twins into the store. I told the two salespeople I was looking for size 10−½ shoes for my daughter and size 11−½ shoes for my son. (This was not our first visit to a shoe store in the past week and I was very clear on my kids’ shoe sizes.)
While I was looking for shoes for my daughter, unbeknownst to me, a salesperson had my son take off his shoes to measure his feet.
When I got around to him, I picked a pair of shoes I liked, but the sales person came out with another pair because she indicated that my son had said he liked them.
They were size 12.
She put them on him and he liked them. (He likes red.) They didn’t have half-​sizes in the shoes my kids were trying on, so she acted as if the larger size was a good fit.
She asked him if he wanted to wear them home.
I asked her how much they were and she said $ 59.00. She put his old shoes in the box and went to get scissors to cut the tags off of the $ 59.00 shoes that were still on his feet. She put me in a really awkward position, and I said «Stop. Don’t cut those tags off, I don’t know if I want to pay that much for shoes.»
While my daughter was trying on shoes, I googled the shoes my son had tried on and found out that Howard’s was charging twice as much as other shoe stores for the same shoes.
I told the sales person, Vidi, that I wasn’t going to get the shoes because they were too expensive there and she berated me for taking advantage of their service (measuring his feet) and then going online to buy the shoes. She was trying to rationalize the 100% price difference because I couldn’t have had his feet measured if I had shopped online.
I told her I didn’t see her measure his feet and she shouldn’t have done that without my permission. (I’m still a little creeped out by her instructing my child to do things without my knowledge or permission when I was less than 10 feet away.)
Apparently, at Howard’s they measure feet by having kids stand on a mat with images of silhouetted shoe soles in different sizes. My children’s feet were measured a few days ago with a more precise Brannock Device (that metal slider thing).
She said I would have seen her measuring my son’s feet if I hadn’t «been letting my children run around.»
Howard’s does not post their prices. The salespeople appear to work on commission, because they are very aggressive. The prices for the shoes that my 4-​year-​old chose were 100% higher than competitive prices and they were taking direction from my 4-​year-​old instead of listening to me.
Never again.

I have been taking my son to Howard’s since he was old enough for his first real shoes 3 years ago. The staff are friendly and excellent at finding shoes that will fit his wide feet just right. He loves getting new shoes here.

I wish I had read these reviews prior to purchasing anything at Howard’s. In a mad rush before leaving for camp, I purchased two pairs of identical shoes in different sizes for my daughter to try on at home that evening. The salesperson made no mention that the store GIVES NO REFUNDS, even though I told her I would buy both and return the one that did not fit. However, the saleperson was very clear about the policy when I came in the next day to return the extra pair. In exchange, I was left with a paper receipt for almost $ 63. When asked, what happens if I lose the receipt, she said — we record everything on the computer. Clearly that is not the case, because when I came in 6months later, they could not pull it up. No apologies, just the comment that it’s the customer’s responsibility to keep track of the receipt. How convenient for them.

I’m surprised people complain about this store being more expensive then what they can buy online. Hum — how do you think they pay for qualify sales personnel and a store in the most expensive retail location in the country? I go there for my kids shoes because they measure their feet every time, and they are of extremely good advice. My son needs shoes with strong arch support and they are able to recommend the right shoes for his needs.

I would give 10 STARS to Vidi, the wonderful woman who helped me find my son’s first pair of «real shoes» today at the Stanford Shopping Center location. She was patient, gentle and knowledgeable of the products and informative. A big THANK YOU for her help!
However, I am slightly disappointed/​frustrated to learn that I paid $ 10 more than the price listed on the Stride-​Rite website… especially since I spent more on my 12 month old’s shoes than I normally do on my own. I definitely appreciate the fact that I received one-​on-​one assistance and the challenges of competing with online sales as a brick-​and-​mortar store, but felt a 20% mark-​up, might have been a bit much. (Full disclosure: I have not retail background nor insight into how merchandising/​running a store works, so there’s that…)

Elsa was awesome! She opened her doors half an hour before the mall. She knew her stuff and was super helpful.
The variety of shoes here is great: school/​athletic/​ballet/​boots/​aqua socks… Perfect one stop shop!

Howard’s shoes IS more expensive than other stores and online. HOWEVER, they provide a level of service that justifies it.
Howard’s employees are friendly, knowledgeable and used to working with kids. They know how to measure, fit and listen to kids. They are super efficient and pleasant.

The service started out fine when I asked the guy to get the shoes for my to try on. They’re comfortable Bobux shoes, but I refused to pay $ 60+ for a pair of toddler’s shoes which she will outgrow in a few months. Right when I made the comment that the shoes are a bit pricey, the old man immediately changed his attitude and took the shoes inside. I found the same pair on Amazon for $ 50. Not going to purchase anything from here ever.

Worst customer service in person and over the phone EVERrrrrrrr!!! For the price I am paying for these hella $$$$ shoes, good service is a must!!!
I am truly disappointed as this store was recommended by a sales associate from Neiman Marcus when their store failed to supply me with a pair of black school shoes for my daughter. I really thought I would like this place because they carried a good selection of black shoes that fit the standards at my daughter’s Catholic school. They also have cute Crocs perfect for swim season and a variety of rainy day accessories and miscellaneous knick knacks. I believe they sell dance paraphernalia too, as well as lunchboxes and frilly bows and hair ties.
But the heck with all that! If I can’t get good service, I will not be making any more purchases at this store.

Five Stars, yes 5 stars. That’s for the overall experience of how we were treated from the time we walked in to the store and how patient and helpful the sales person (Elsa S.) was in helping us locate our product and making the purchase. Thank You Howard’s of Palo Alto. Thank You Elsa for making our visit so positive. We loved the service and the product.

The service was good in that they tolerated my daughters running around and trying out the shoes to make sure they fit. The staff are tolerant of picky, crazy kids.
However minus many stars for always being 10% higher price than nordstrom’s? From now on, I am going to nordstrom’s first.
BUT Howard’s always has something when I am in a pinch…

We came in yesterday (Mother’s Day) after my oldest saw the huge display of Crocs outside. The girl who helped us was great! She measured our boys feet, let us use real socks, not those creepy nylon ones, to try on shoes. She was so pleasant and didn’t mind that our 2 year old was running around like crazy touching all the toys and cars. The shoes were expensive but really cute.

This store is way overpriced but you can talk them down. It seems like they don’t post prices on their shoes so that they can high-​ball you on the first quote and see if you’ll just pay the inflated price.
I talked them down but I still feel like I paid too much. Of course, it didn’t help that the kids really wanted these «Heelys» right away. They did match the price on
so we went with it. Except for the haggling, the sale went just fine.
When we got them home we discovered that one of the pairs we bought didn’t have the wheels in them! My wife went back to the store and came back with the wrong sized wheel even though the manager said they had the correct wheels set aside for her. After going to the store for a third time we got the right sized wheel but my daughter had to settle for the wrong color.
Oh well. I don’t think I’ll be back to buy shoes here ever again.

Until this weekend I bought nearly all my son’s shoes at Howard’s.
Though the prices were high, the selection was good and the salespeople
were helpful.
This is why my experience there this weekend came as such a shock.
A salesman came up to me and asked if I needed help. I said «I’d
like to measure my son’s foot please» (since it had been about 6
months).
I was astonished when he replied «Are you actually going to be
buying anything today?»
I don’t think I’ve ever been so insulted in a retail shop in my
life. I could overlook it if he was an ordinary salesperson (perhaps
the store had hired a bad seed) but unfortunately we discovered
this man was the owner! I’ll never shop there again.

I really like this store!
They have better prices then other kids boutique shoe stores, TenToes, comes to mind. A pair of Pedipeds I bought at Ten Toes, I then say at Howards for about $ 10 less.
great service and they send out postcard coupons regularly for $ 5-​$ 10 off!!!