The photo booth

The booth was meant to be a small thing for the opening weekend of the shop on Columbia Road. It ended up being the only piece of the launch anyone kept.

Four frames, thirty seconds, one strip out of the slot. People held the shoe up like a trophy, pulled faces, crowded three into a two-person seat. Nobody planned any of it, and that is exactly why the strips work.

What the strips told us

Pinned in rows behind the till, they turned into a record of how people actually pick a shoe. Nobody held it by the laces. They picked it up by the heel, turned it over, pressed a thumb into the toe. Friends swapped colors between frames, white for chocolate, bone for black, and argued about it in the next one. Gray got held up beside faces, as if it were a paint card.

The lesson was simple: people choose a color by holding it next to themselves, not by looking at it on a shelf. That is still how we run the shop. Every color of the low is on the wall, and you are expected to take them down.

Getting the most from a visit

The booth has gone. The bench has not. If you are coming to 41 Columbia Road, a few things help.

Wear the trousers you wear most, or bring them. Ask for one color on each foot and look down before you look in the mirror. Try the low and the high back to back: they sit on the same last, so your size is the same in both, and the only question left is the ankle. If the Court feels close across the front, try the Runner, which has a roomier toe box.

We are open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm, and Sunday from 9am to 3pm, when the flower market is on outside. We are closed on Mondays. If you would rather decide at home, every pair in the range ships free, and returns are free within 60 days as long as the pair has not been worn outside.

The strips are still pinned behind the till. If you were there, you are on the wall.