Re: Tommy Balls
 

It's terrible trying to get good children's shoes e.g Clarks round here.

The only one I know of locally is the one on Blackburn Rd, Accrington.

Passion for Soles I think it's called.

I have had children's Clarks shoes from there.

I also go to Little Feet in Barrowford, they have some lovely shoes in there and they last a long time. This is a must for me as my children's feet grow very slowly. I only buy shoes for them every 9-12 months so if they're not long lasting they soon look scruffy. :(

However, you wouldn't go to Barrowford if you didn't have a car of course.

Re: Tommy Balls
 

There is the shop on Whalley Road as well Lilly, I paid about twenty pounds for some lovely boots there when my daughter was a baby(she is thirty two now) and mum got the exact same boots from Tommy Balls for 99p:eek:

Re: Tommy Balls
 

I know Mothercare at Blackburn has a clarks department
There is the shoe shop on the bottom of Whalley Rd nr town that has clarks too, not sure if thats the one you are on about

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Yes, I forgot about the Whalley Rd one.

The Mothercare one is a beggar to get to without a car.

It's those without a car that I feel sorry for. If you've got a car it doesn't really affect you, you can just go elewhere.

I'm not just talking about shoes now. Trying to get clothes, toys, books, anything, is a nightmare for people without a car. These retail parks are great but they're always out of town. :(

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Yep it is but the prices are ridiculous:mad:

Re: Tommy Balls
 

I know Clarks shoes are very good but I could never understand why they were so dear in comparison to others. I know they do differnt widths and things like that, but when you have growing kids shoes don't last two minutes and when you have 2 or 3 young kids it cost a small fortune to buy their shoes on top of all the clothes as well:(

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Unless you live here:)

But no little Feet is a good shop and is used by people from far & wide as Lily has said

and help forms a small part of Barrowfords Designer Mile:alright:

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Passed the shop tonight - and they had a note in the window, "Under new management!"

When I first came North, I had a coach full of girls singing a song about Tommy Ball, does anyone remember the words to it?

Re: Tommy Balls
 

It was very rare for mum and dad to drag me to tommy balls - think i only ever went there twice - i was always took to winfields. Mind you thats gone down hill now as well, went in there about a month ago and now its all tents, work boots, hiking boots, jackets etc.

Re: Tommy Balls
 

We were the same as kids, used to go to winfields, had mastered the "shuffle" whilst trying to walk in shoes tied together with string, its just no fun anymore, and no more bargains either :(

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Mum just told us to get the kids feet measured and she would go routing at Tommy Balls for us:)

Re: Tommy Balls
 

that shop in Accy is called David Spruce and is waaaaaaaaaay too expensive, the bottom Tommy Balls shop had an 'under new management' sign up ages ago, i havent been to the top one for years, i presume its not a new sign though Busman, i cant see them coming out of administration within 24 hours really

Re: Tommy Balls
 

Only used David Spruces for shoes when my kiddie had different size feet and Clarke's seemed to be the only ones that fit !
Thankfully thats resolved now but the choice of shops in Accy is appalling as we discovered when looking for school trousers today.

Re: Tommy Balls
 

They used to be more expensive because they were manufactured in Britain rather than some foreign sweat shop staffed by 9 year olds, but I am not sure if that is still true.