Best store for women's shoes
There are no words to describe the relationship a woman has with her shoes. But without our having to speak, DSW understands. It's rare that a woman leaves this store empty-handed. Part of its success is due to sheer volume - the Downtown Crossing outpost features two full floors of nothing but aisles and aisles of fabulous shoes by top designers, endless boots in countless styles, sneakers, sandals, dress shoes, and work shoes, and they're all sold at bargain prices. And there's even an enormous and ever-present sale rack. It's probably not exactly what heaven looks like, but we like to think it's pretty close.

Berks, too, is sympathetic to a woman's attachment to her footwear. It has a fine selection of adorable and trendy shoes by Bronx, NYLA, GoMax!, Irregular Choice, and Blink, as well as Uggs and other winter boots, and the obligatory designer sneakers, from Pumas to Sauconys to Roos. All of the shoes are reasonably priced, and the inventory changes often to keep things interesting

DSW, 385 Washington Street, Boston, (617) 556-0052, www.dswshoe.com; Berks, 50 JFK Street, Cambridge, (617) 492-9511, www.berkshoes.com.