Chicago - September 26, 2005

Chicken Soup for the Sole

Brooks Shoe Service

Heading out the door, those new leather pumps look adorable.

Three hours and multiple blisters later, cute has morphed into acute — as in the pain you suffer with every step.

Don’t throw them in the back of the closet just yet; take them to Mike Morelli, third-generation cobbler and owner of Brooks Shoe Service. A shoe maestro of sorts, Morelli has got the fix for all your foot woes. If your shoes fit fine when you leave the house and the tightness comes after walking around, he’ll hook you up with a spray-on product that stretches the shoe to mold to your foot.

Morelli can also manually stretch your kicks, move buckles, adjust heel height, and replace soles and heeltaps. But our favorite footwear antidote? His custom-fit knee-high boots. Finally, something to put an end to the loathsome zipper-calf struggle.

Which does as much good for your self-image as it does for your sole.

Brooks Shoe Service, 55 East Washington Street, suite 335, at Wabash Avenue (312-372-2504).