A popular brand of children's gimmick shoes built for speed has been moving so fast at a Napier shop that 33 pairs even disappeared in the middle of the night - in a burglary.
The Heely shoes, which feature wheels set into the heels, were stolen in a smash-and-grab raid last
week at Number One Shoes, at the southern end of the Balmoral shopping centre, a short distance from the Napier Health Centre on Wellesley Rd.
Police, seeking any information about the burglary, the whereabouts of the shoes and anyone who may have been offered them for sale, say the shoes were in boxes just inside the front entrance.
A window was smashed and the boxes snatched from the display.
Valued at $100 a pair, there were 25 pairs of various children's sizes coloured black/charcoal with a white name and 8 pairs of various children's sizes coloured black/grey with a red name.
Davina Hoare, support manager for the branch, one of about 45 stores in the Number One Shoes chain which has its nationwide distribution centre at Whakatu, said hundreds of the shoes had been sold in Napier over the year, occasionally even appealing to older wearers and with no sign of a fad disappearing.
While the bulk of the sales are in children's sizes, they do go up to adult size 10.
