Ecco

I love ECCO shoes and have been wearing them for nearly 20 years. The shoes are wonderfully comfortable, stylish in some cases, and sturdy as hell — most of mine have lasted 5+ years. So I got excited when I saw an ECCO store in Southampton (being new to the area) and decided to walk in and check it out this past week.
My review is for the shop itself, not the products.
The staff are knowledgeable and they do stock some great ECCO shoes. But being limited to only what is on the shelves (and not what they could potentially have in the back room) was a bit shocking. And the amount of product was also rather disappointing. The shop is tiny, I will admit, but the layout was rather lacklustre and therefore the potential of the various types of shoes that ECCO provides were not on sale or available in this shop.
When I have walked into an ECCO shop (and I have done it in London, Toronto, Vilnius) before, the selection was better, with a better layout and I wasn’t limited to the product on the shelves only. Sales assistant telling me that they only have a certain shoe in in the shoes available on the shelves smacks of either laziness (cos they don’t want to to go the back) or the shop itself is badly managed if they cannot even bother keep stock on hand.
My next ECCO shop will not be in Southampton. I will probably make the journey into London. Atleast there I can get a choice of selection.

I recently bought a pair of shoes in here and was very impressed by the knowledgeable and friendly staff. Unfortunately, when I got home I noticed that one of the shoes looked more worn than the other (probably a display shoe) and took the pair back to see if they could be exchanged. They didn’t have another pair in my size but did offer to let me change them for something else. I declined and stuck with the original pair and I’m just hoping that after a while they match!
All of the shoes sold here have a slight arch support and the insole can be completely removed and replacements can be bought. The shop itself is clean, light and bright and the staff are all very well dressed and pleasant to talk to. They certainly know their products and this is the only shoe shop where I have been given a shoe horn to use when trying shoes on. They do sell small metal shoe horns for less than a couple of quid and I’d recommend buying one. Not only do they stop you destroying the backs of your shoes but they do really make putting them on a little easier.

I visited Ecco looking for a pair of flat comfy shoes for a short period of work where I would be on my feet a lot. The store is at the Bargate on the corner and runs as a V shaped down one street and into the Bargate area proper. The assistant in the store was fantastic. She showed me a large range of shoes, explained the benefits of the Ecco shoe and recommended a few pairs. She brought out all the shoes for me to try on and I finally picked one pair to buy. She wasn’t at all pushy and was friendly and helpful. They stock a
large selection of what I would call comfy shoes, not up to date fashion but really well made comfortable shoes. She did mention that nurses were particularly keen on one or two pairs as they are on their feet all day. Without a doubt I would return if I needed another pair of these type of shoes instead of the torture devices I usually wear!