Shoes On Solano

Really, really, really appreciated the staff at this shoe shop. Most shoe shops of this kind (comfort, high quality), aren’t staffed with the friendliest and caringest of reps. But I was really impressed with how nice the gals were here. Emily was the one who I had the pleasure of receiving help from. She was very knowledgable about shoe fitting and what kinds of insoles to buy for your shoe. She knew about Danksos and how they were built and what to do to get the proper fit. As a lady with small, narrow, and delicate feet, I can’t tell you how great it is to know that there are people who can give you more than just shoe sales help. It’s above and beyond. Kudos to you guys.

I love this store! The selection is varied and the staff always attentive and very helpful. I love the sale racks for amazing discounts and they even have handbags/​purses on sale for great savings. If you need a special size or want to order a particular shoe in another color they are always willing to help you out.

Came in with my 84 year old mother and left with 9 pairs of shoes between us! Great selection of well made comfortable and stylish shoes, sandals and boots. Absolutely the best customer service along with amazing shoe knowledge. Manager Miranda is a shoe genius! When my card was declined and I had to call in because MC suspected fraud, they found me a stool, cold water, and a phone charger! Will definitely go out of my way to shop there again.

I am a regular to their sales and often find good deals on «last pairs.» I’ve always been treated well there and am warmly greeted when I walk in.

I can’t help but love this shoe store. Good selection of comfort focused brands for women with sizes I’m looking for consistently available, at prices generally competitive with what’s available online. It’s not quite the edgiest collection, in fact I feel a little young to be shopping here sometimes. However, I have some serious plantar fascists issues, and I really can’t scrimp on shoes, nor can I wear sneakers all the time.
They have two stores pretty much right next to each other– one is the more dressy shoe store, and the other has kids shoes and women’s sneakers.
I have noticed that while I tend to have a great experience with the staff, they can sort of turn on you if you piss them off. I can be direct, but I try not to upset anyone in general. I had to push back pretty hard to get a full refund on shoes I had bought before they went on sale, when I returned a pair and they had gone on sale. I don’t think that’s really fair. But at least I got my full refund.
My other weakness– I have a tendency to get *really* into shoes here, even though a voice in my head says, ‘they don’t quite fit you, maybe you should pass them up!?’ I buy them anyway! Sometimes I even go back after a 2 day cool off period and STILL buy shoes that don’t quite fit– that happened with this sweet pair of nude color suede shoes that are pretty sexy but just don’t fit that well. Don’t get too attached to a pair and try to have gadgets like pads and inserts help. Either they fit or they don’t, with hose or barefoot, insert or not.

Don’t really want to waste time rating this, but just thought it might be a little bit helpful for people who use Unilocal.First of all, people who helped me are not very friendly. And I figured out that one thing they are good at is selling the shoes to you. Once you purchased and walked out the store, the customer service is just terrible. They are making policies to ensure it’s impossible or extremely hard for exchanges and returns. I wouldn’t recommend for my friends anymore. I am sure this is my last time shopping there.

This is my favorite shoe shop in the SF Bay Area. They always have a great selection of fashionable shoes that are also very comfortable, in a variety of price points. On the two days I went in recently, there were several staff people present so they were able to provide me undivided attention even though there were others in the store, and they are so helpful! Julie helped me recently on two separate days and she is so sweet, accommodating, knowledgeable about the shoes, friendly and efficient! I purchased four pairs of shoes and I can’t wait to go back again soon!

I took the advice of a friend and went to Shoes on Solano for shoes. Even though it was crazy busy, I felt like I was the only person in the store. The woman who helped me was also helping another person at the same time and we traded stories about our various foot problemss while we both tried on lots of cute shoes. The sales
woman was extremely attentive to both of us and I walked out with 2 pairs. I’ve been in stores with a lot less customers competing for attention of a few sales people but I’ve never felt more taken care of. Some of the selection wasn’t my style, but I found some cute flats that I love. I will definitely be back.

there were three salespeople when i walked in. not ONE bothered to say hello to me even as i stood next to a salesperson at the cash register. no hello means no profits from me. saying hello is effortless! yup, it’s that simple. you want to compete with online stores like zappos, then provide some damn customer service! AND i was there for more than 30 seconds, so your 30 second rule does not apply to this situation. i would have gladly bought a pair of danskos but after being ignored, i was happy to avoid spending a penny at your store. i placed my order online with

i regret even walking into your store. there’s no need to try and contact me to explain. your shoe collection isn’t anything special nor are you competitive in pricing. how you stay in business with such rude service is beyond me!

I have problematic feet with rheumatoid arthritis in one of my toes and general fussiness, however, I wanted something pretty and fashionable. I was shown several pairs of shoes, my feet were even measured (who does this anymore?) and much time was spent with me answering questions regarding which shoe would be right for me. Finally, I bought the Alegria and have been wearing them at home as there is a seven day testing period in which you can bring the shoes back to the store. So far so great! I would most definitely recommend this store as the service was good old fashioned helpful service which was what I needed and am grateful for!

Shoes on Solano has THE BEST customer service. Bought some flats in summer that I wore judiciously since I love them so much. Recently put them on and noticed the leather was peeling. I happened to be wearing them while browsing at SOS and Emily (who sold me the shoes) and I were chatting about them not holding up very well. I thought it was just going to be my loss. Oh no… Emily contacted the company (All Black) and they are either replacing the shoes or, if they cannot find another pair for me, I get full store credit! I did not expect that at all. I already love Shoes on Solano because of the incredible selection of top pf the line shoes but great customer service too! My new go-​to place for shoes.

I got message from owner of this store. She was very nice and wanted to know what was happen the day.
I can tell they are really trying to give a good customer service to customer.
I will go back the store again :)

Shoes on Solano 2 — just two doors down from their other location — is a great place to buy shoes for kids. On first glance, it doesn’t look like they have a huge selection, but today we left there with 2 pairs which my daughter deemed «perfect.» And that is saying a lot considering my daughter. This is the second time we have bought shoes there that my daughter has fallen in love with. Their shoes are very high quality and also comfortable for kids. Jessica works very well with kids — is very gentle and speaks to them at their level. She is also very patient and VERY knowledgeable about shoes and children’s feet. Buying shoes for my child used to be a very stressful experience, but not any longer.

A really good selection of high quality shoes … stylish without sacrificing comfort. And what’s more, the young women who work here are fun, kind, attentive and actually seem to ENJOY their work. It’s a pleasure to shop here.

As an avid stiletto wearer I avoid comfort shoes like the plague. Sadly my arches have fallen, so I needed an intervention. These ladies helped me find a shoe that will be comfortable without sacrificing style. I haven’t completely retired my collection but I do have some cute comfortable shoes.

2 things to review: first off, exactly THREE HOURS AGO, having stepped in after an invigorating workout on the circuit, I saw that they opened up a new store spot (just 2 spots west, down the hill) for women and kids. with styles and a bit more fashion to kick it up a notch. There is now a barber’s shop in between the orig. on the corner of Modoc/​Solano, and now this one. Nicely organized, with some purses, still same brands of shoes, Hobo purse/​wallet products, watches, some accessories…
I got a very good deal on some marked down high-​end arch support shoes. 2 pairs, to be exact. Customer service was prompt and friendly. I enjoy the fact that it’s leisure browsing with no pressure to purchase. But these were a nice find; lucky me, they had my size in stock, for they’re clearancing out those styles.

I found this store when I was in town visiting family. Shoes on Solano had a well-​curated selection of shoes, and they let me try on endless pairs in multiple colors — seriously, the people who work there have the patience of tree farmers.
Whenever I get back to the Berkeley area, I make sure to visit. I’ve even called the store on occasion to get advice on shoes. Thanks, all! You are great!

Today I went in to try several pair of La Canadienne boots. I have to be picky about shoe support due to my weak, wimpy feet :(. The woman helping me was happy to let me try on the boots with their inner soles (since I hadn’t brought my orthodics with me). She was completely patient and understanding when I said I would like to come back with my orthodics to try them on. I was in there for about 40 minutes and NEVER felt pressured to buy. It is great to know they carry a large array of cute/​supportive shoes and that they have the inner soles on hand is a huge selling point to me. I will return!

I have had mixed experiences here. They are right next door to my hairdresser. I am not a big shopper, but I guess getting my hair done puts me in the mood.
Originally, I got a pair of cute dansko’s that were on sale at a pretty good price. Unfortunately, they squeaked. Anyways, I later got a pair of earth shoe sandals here over the summer, which was a good experience. The staff was super helpful and nice and I loved the shoes. I asked them at the time about bringing the dansko’s in to send them back and they gave a thumbs up.
I brought them back the next day and called the store a few weeks later when I hadn’t heard anything. The worker assured me that it can take a REALLY long time and that they would call me as soon as they came in. About 3 months later, I was back there trying on some boots and asked about the Danskos. They were shocked at how long it had taken and did get back to me about it. It seems like the problem was on Dansko’s end. I can’t fault them with the delay, but it would have been better customer service to keep track of my order?!
Well, the same thing happened with my recent boot order… the shipment was delayed and the onus was on me to call them. I guess if I am paying premium prices, I expect that if things aren’t seamless, the staff should do the work, not me.
My last complaint may be nitpicky, but I found it really annoying. The phone number on my credit card receipt was for the wrong store (apparently Shoes on Solano has split from Ideas4Elements). So, I called the number at the top of the receipt to inquire about my shoes, which totally makes sense. It took Ideas4Elements more than 24 hours to call me back and they merely called me back with the other stores number. Now, again… the good customer service choice would have been to pass the message along to the other store in a timely fashion. Instead, I was eager to get my boots and at least 36 hours ended up passing before I got any word.
So, I did call to complain to the manager about the slow and ineffective response that I had gotten from my initial phone call (when it was really their bad for not changing the phone number) and to Shoes on Solano about the number being wrong. Everyone apologized, but I didn’t have any sort of impression that they were going to fix these problems. It’s kind of like «Oh, sorry» doesn’t mean nearly as much as «I am going to take personal responsibility for making sure this doesn’t happen again by figuring out how to change the number on these slips or by making it a store policy to return calls 3x per day…
I won’t give up on them yet, and I do hope to give them a better rating. I really love their products, but I can’t quite give them a good yet. The cheaper prices online really raise the bar for the customer service that I expect when paying full retail.

Shoes on Solano is the Shoe part of Ideas 4 Elements. I walked in, a bit in crisis mode as all of my shoes are either clogs or made of canvas and not suitable to the rainy weather of the Bay Area. Being an indecisive, picky shoe shopper I was pleasantly surprised that they carried all of my favorite brands (Dansko, Earth, Simple, Clarks) and many that I had yet to own, but had been on my wish list.
The staff was very helpful and let me wander around the store in the shoes I tried on to make sure that they were the ones, and help me weigh the advantages and faults to each pair as I made my decision — yes this is why I shoe shop alone, I can’t find anyone brave enough to endure the drama with me. When all was said and done, I left with a wonderful pair of boots to brave the Berkeley weather!