One of the things I love about being in Singapore is it’s a wonderful introduction into Asian culture, some call it “Asia Light”. There is no language barrier, English is widely spoken, public transportation is orderly and efficient, and there are plenty of malls with western brands so we can pick up what we didn’t have time to in the US. Between catching COVID, seeing family, work obligations, meetups with friends, and a myriad of doctor appointments Peter didn’t have an opportunity to pick up a new pair of running shoes while in the US. No problem, there are lots of malls in Singapore and plenty of locations for the brand of choice: New Balance. Store #1 was a location by where we were staying, but it was an Outlet so there were no running shoes, we shrugged it off and went about our day. Store #2 we took a $30 Grab ride (Uber) to the Changi Jewel mall at the world’s #1 rated airport where Google said there was a location in their $1.3billion mall. I wanted to go back and see the light/water show anyway so it was a great way to kill two birds, 3 birds if you count there was a Birds of Paradise Gelato location which would be a perfect way to celebrate Peter’s new kix. We started off with the light/water show, touted as the world’s tallest indoor waterfall at over 130 feet I was excited to see this show. When we first arrived to the airport June 25 we saw this waterfall but the colored lights are only at night. So here we were with no jet lag and ready to be awed. It was beautiful in red, purple, blue, green and a few minutes after we arrived the show was announced. Perfect timing except the show was about 3 minutes and was a laser projection of Marvel characters, a little deflated we moved on but we did truly enjoy the colorful waterfall.
Off to NB #2. We found the mall directory and it was an interactive digital masterpiece. We simply typed in where we wanted to go and it instantly lit up with the dots guiding us to our location….except there was a notation Temporarily Closed. Noooooooo! This will not do, this can not be! In denial we followed the directions to the store location just to be sure. We arrived and there was a wall blocking the store entrance, painted on the wall there was a big red New Balance logo and just below Coming Soon August 2023. Hopes were dashed so in lieu of celebrating we drowned our sorrows of in roasted sesame gelato sans the thyme infused cone because their machine was broken ($19)
On to New Balance store #3 located at a mall near the area we were touring that day close to Haji Lane and the Muslim quarter.
After playing tourist we hit NB#3. It looked promising, they had a full wall devoted to men’s shoes. I was feeling pretty optimistic, we looked across the wall and did not see running shoes let alone trail runners Peter was vying for. There were rows of shoes that had 3 inches of cushion lift, shoes in all colors and materials including suede which is not ideal in monsoon season. We had the following conversation with the sales associate:
me: “Do you have running shoes?”
him: “We have light running shoes”
me: “What do you mean? Light running shoes? How about shoes you can go to the gym in, hike in, walk for 10 miles in”. I’m looking around at the athletic apparel in the store incredulous.
him: “You can do some of those things, but we only carry lifestyle shoes.”
me: “Lifestyle shoes?”
him: “Shoes for going out and for dress casual but not to use for activity, you need to go to Suntec mall”
We left and went to several other stores Asics, Nike, Colombia, etc all the same…Lifestyle Shoes
On Saturday we went off to do some sightseeing and on the way Suntec Mall. Could this be the end of the long trek for running shoes? Will Cinderella finally find his perfect sneaker? We arrive and are momentarily distracted by some very ambitious young ladies trying to remove the wrinkles and black circles from around our eyes.
With one eye having what feels like egg whites on them we press on. We arrive to the store and yes they had trail shoes and running shoes including his 880s, yay there was a whole lot of internal rejoicing that this quest would be over!!! There was an array of colors, beige, navy, black, charcoal, bright blue, and some obnoxious fluorescents.
Did they have Peter’s size, who knows because none passed the color test. So hopefully Amazon will deliver the perfect trainer, he will work it out as he always does
Epilogue
Oh the saga of the perfect shoe for Cinderella continues….July 17 we stopped at the New Balance store, the original outlet by our house. What’s this…trail shoes? On the wall in the sea of lifeystyle shoes there were Goretex (waterproof) trail shoes in his size. You can see it in the photo below lurking behind the sweatshirt shoe. The issue: a whole lot of neon green. We talked about sharpie coloring and in the end he decided to hold off. Will Cinderalla find the perfect running trail shoe in Singapore or be footloose and fancy free in Borneo… stay tuned.
Below is the proof that New Balance is responsible for the lifestyle shoe phenomenon. Why dilute activewear options with oodles of useless shoes for fashionistas. It just makes me sad
Romantic Roads 
Leave a comment