Philly Plain Dealer

Walking down Chestnut St in Center City, you will pass your fair share of oddities. People screaming, e-bikes whizzing down the sidewalk, and the usual fanfare of Center City Philadelphia. However, when you walk past Blue Sole Shoes there is a remarkable oddity sticking out of their storefront.

A shoe has seemingly been thrown through the front window of Blue Sole Shoes from the inside. The image brings to mind a scene in which a fanatical shoe salesman spikes his inventory through the front of the shop, or perhaps a customer frustrated with everchanging shoe size finally snapped. 

Blue Sole Shoes is a mini shoe store that also carries clothing and accessories like belts and socks that’s been around since 2007. Its owner Steve Jamison, 59, has been passionate about shoes since he “was a kid probably around the age of seven or so (my mother) gave me a pair of fashion shoes… and when I had them on, and I got so much attention from wearing them, people were complimenting me on them and how good I look in them and… it’s something that’s always stuck with me and it’s something I wanted to re-create for other people.” Jamison explained.

So who threw the shoe through the window?

Well… technically no one did. 

“Someone threw a brick at the window and it appeared to be a homeless person. This happened at night, around 11:30 on a Sunday. I saw from my video surveillance system,” Jamison says. “He threw a brick at the window, broke it and walked away, but also threw a brick at the business adjacent to mine, but that window happened not to break.”

His store survived the 2008 financial collapse and the 2020 pandemic. Blue Sole Shoes is quietly becoming a Center City institution.

“Sure, I mean it’s challenging. I have to admit that, but that’s kind of how I view life in general, just challenging. You know we have to sort of look at things differently when we face challenges and not be so pessimistic. That’s my attitude and how I stay so able to move forward in life in general, not just with the broken glass.”

Jamison’s unique perspective and sense of humor turned a brick thrown by a homeless person through his window into an interesting piece of public art. According to Jamison, many of his customers were concerned about the broken window which led him to a creative solution.

“I just had the idea to make light of the situation, so what I actually did was I took the boot & I cut the boot in half so it appears as though it’s going through the window but it’s actually not the boot is cut in half and I used epoxy to glue half of the boot on the inside and half the boot on the outside, so that’s really what it is. I just wanted to make light of the situation,” Jamison told the Philly Plain Dealer.

Jamison made lemons out of lemonade. He could’ve gotten mad about the homeless person who damaged his storefront and resented his situation, instead he spoke about the need for better mental health treatments for people like the brick-thrower. The shoe will remain through the window of Blue Sole Shoes until Jamison can have it replaced, hopefully it’ll put a smile on your face.