Footwear – Page 2 – Alpine Shop Blog

April 24, 2012

Would You Help Us Put a Smile on a Child’s Face?

Operation Smile Bracelets from Sanuk — All profits from the sale of these bracelets goes toward helping Operation Smile put smiles on the faces of children born with cleft palate or cleft lip/

“SMILE, Pass it on!” That’s the tagline for one of Alpine Shop’s favorite footwear brands, Sanuk.

Sanuk wants to make people smile by being comfortable in their shoes all day long. Then, you can pass along that smile to the next person, and so on! Along these lines, Sanuk is working to help a not-for-profit called Operation Smile. Operation Smile is an international children’s medical charity that provides free surgery for children born with a cleft palate, cleft lips or other facial deformity. These deformities do not need to go uncorrected. Operation Smile has a long history of changing kids’ lives by simply restoring a smile.

In order to help raise money for Operation Smile, we are selling the “Operation Smile, Pass It On” bracelets at all Alpine Shop locations and on-line at alpineshop.com. They are only 4 bucks, and Sanuk is donating 100% of it’s net profit of this wonderful organization.

So, come in, buy a bracelet, smile and pass it on!”

October 31, 2011

Free $52 Gift Certificate with Purchase of $148 of The North Face Through 11/6

The first six days of November will bring some great deals to fans of The North Face brand at Alpine Shop. From the first to the sixth, any purchase total of $148 made up entirely of The North Face merchandise will receive a $52 gift certificate good for anything in a future purchase at Alpine Shop.

The North Face Denali Jacket, Cat's Meow BX Sleeping Bag — Either one of these items from The North Face, the Denali Jacket (for men and women) and the Cat's Meow BX Sleeping Bag, will earn you a Free Gift Certificate.

So, whether you earn that FREE gift certificate with one TNF Denali Jacket or a Cat’s Meow BX Sleeping Bag;

Add these items up (The North Face Peruvian Corded Beanie, Half Dome Hoodie, Etip Gloves and 100 TKA Microvelour Pants) and you hit your $148 target to a Free $52 Gift Certificate.

or maybe you spread the TNF joy out a little and grab a hat, pants, gloves and hoodie like this Peruvian Cable Beanie Cap, these TKA 100 Microvelour Women’s Pants, a pair of these Etip Gloves that enable you to use your touchscreen phone while still wearing your gloves, and finally this Half Dome Hoodie to fill out our bill and grab yourself a $52 gift certificate for later on this holiday season.

A few notes on this promotion: Deal good through Sunday, 11/6/11. Limit 4 gift certificates per customer. $148 equals pre-tax total on The North Face brand clothing and gear. Gift card only good for future purchases. Previous purchases not eligible for deal. Return of goods purchased in order to receive certificate will result in forfeiture of certificate. Gift Certificate expires on 12/31/11.

See you in the Shop – or online at alpineshop.com.

October 17, 2011

Tent Goes Up. Get Your Used Gear In. Swap Starts Friday!

For 17 years, Alpine Shop has always had two distinct Swap Celebrations: a Spring Swap dedicated to bikes, boats, camping gear and all warm-weather pursuits, and the Winter Swap devoted to all things done outside in the cold including skiing, snowboarding and playing in the snow. So for the 18th year, of course, we threw all of that out the window.

Welcome to the 18th Annual Winter Swap.

Bring all of that stuff in this time. If the gear meets our standards, we’ll sell it out of the Swap tent and put some cash or store credit in your pocket. (Or if you’re at our Columbia location Swap, we’ll do the same thing without the tent!)

As of Monday, October 17 at 10 am, Alpine Shop Kirkwood and Columbia are ready to accept your used items into the Swap. Bring them in early to avoid the line. If you prefer to leave things until the last minute, please note that ALL used gear registration needs to be finished by 5 pm on Friday, Oct. 21. More than likely, this means you need to be in line at 4 pm at the latest to check-in your gear. As we continue to improve the Swap to make sure our lines don’t stretch back for hours on Friday night, that same technology has forced us to make some changes in how we do some things. Check-in is one of those things.

We’ll still open the tent at 7 pm on Friday night. We’ll still have people tailgating for the tent opening hours before then. You’ll still find the tent filled with great prices on used and clearance items. (Or, you’ll still see the money coming in from the items you’re selling!)

You will find a few changes inside our stores, however. All of our new-gear sales will begin when we open our doors first thing in the morning in Kirkwood, Chesterfield and Columbia (or on-line at alpineshop.com). If you’re just interested in new gear deals, you no longer have to wait until the 7 pm starting time anymore. Also, we’ll have Early Bird and Night Owl deals on new gear on both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22-23 and Sat. and Sun., Oct. 29-30. You can find those limited time specials on page 3 of our on-line new-gear sale catalog here.

Used gear sales are open in Kirkwood and Columbia on Friday, Oct. 21 from 7 pm–11 pm; Sat., Oct. 22 from 9 am—9 pm and Sun., Oct. 23 from 11 am—6 pm.

See you soon!

September 27, 2011

Four Steps to a Better Boot Fit in the Heel

Alpine Shop certified pedorthist and senior bootfitter Angie Bono shows how Alpine Shop custom fits the heel of a boot for one of its customers.

Using a sequence of heat, pressure and cold, Alpine Shop bootfitters can remold the shape of your boots to perfectly fit your heel and ankle.

Alpine Shop can also use different techniques to help you deal with problems like bunions, hammer toes, plantar fasciitis, tarsal tunnel and leg length discrepancies.

You can learn more from all of Alpine Shop’s boot fitters by stopping in any one of our locations in Missouri. You can also visit http://blog-alpineshop.com for continuing instructional videos.

September 27, 2011

How to Tell a Good Hiking Boot from a Bad One

Alpine Shop’s head bootfitter and Certified Pedorthist, Angie Bono, explains the main differences between a “Good” quality hiking boot and a “Bad” boot. Beware—Looks can be deceiving!

Back in the early 1900’s mountaineering and backpacking boots were built on steel shank. This was great for sturdiness and for protecting your feet from rocks and turned ankles. However, it was also heavy and unyielding—not quite the solution we are looking for today. With current technologies, the top quality hiking boots today are based on a nylon shank that runs the length of the boot from the toes to the heel. This stiff nylon helps to protect the hiker’s foot and ankles while also helping to keep weight down and comfort up.

All of Alpine Shop’s hiking boots will contain this feature. However, if you visit some other store that claims to sell hiking boots, watch out for cheap imitations that may put your body at significant risk. Once Angie shows you what’s inside two boots that look almost exactly the same on the outside, you’ll know where to look for your next boots—Alpine Shop!

Enjoy the video!

September 19, 2011

3 Lacing Techniques for a Better Fit – Fixing Footwear Problems with Alpine Shop

Alpine Shop’s head bootfitter and Certified Pedorthist, Angie Bono, spends a few minutes on this video going over some easy and effective lacing techniques to help your shoes or your hiking boots fit better.

For problems with your heel slipping in your boot or shoe, the “heel lock” technique helps lock your heel into the back of your footwear. This prevents your foot from moving and reduces the chance of a blister forming on the back of your heel.

If you have problems with too much pressure on sensitive parts of your foot, Angie shows you how to use the “box lace” technique to simply go around those sensitive parts while keeping your footwear as snug as it needs to be everywhere else.

Finally, Angie demonstrates how the “surgeon’s knot” can be used to custom tighten the lower section of a boot for new boot wearers (and another great option to help with heel slippage).

We hope you enjoy the video. We apologize for the focus coming in and out on the boot. We’ll get it fixed before our next video later this week!