William Shoe Store

It’s just after 1 p.m. on a weekday afternoon, and the shoehorns at William’s Shoe Store are much in demand.

It’s a chaotic scene, as owner Ted Czarnota brings out box after box of shoes from the supply room, and customers stroll up and down the store’s centre aisle, trying to get a sense of their fit and feel. It’s a fascinating contrast in personalities, some customers walking purposefully, others gingerly, as if expecting blisters to break out at any moment.

“We have everything except space,” Ted tells one customer in the offhand manner of a veteran shopkeeper. “People who come here like the organized mess.”

William’s may be cluttered, but it’s not messy. “It’s a real store,” Ted says after the rush, surrounded by dozens of open shoeboxes. Indeed, there is no mistaking William’s for any of the trendy boutiques so common to this retail strip on Toronto’s Queen Street West.

Boxes and boxes of shoes line both sides of the narrow store, stacked almost to the ceiling. Peeking through only in places, the polished green and grey checked rubber floor dates back to the store’s 1950 opening. The smell of shoe leather fills the air.