Ruby Slipper

A strict dress code at a private junior high school was all it took to set young Sue Bradley on the path to shoe collecting.

“You would be sent home for anything but sensible lace-up shoes,” the longtime Spokane resident says of her days at the Cranbrook Academies in suburban Michigan. “I think the reason I love shoes is because somebody told me I couldn’t wear them.”

Today the one-time trial attorney is a well-known painter, gallery and bookstore owner and self-described shoe lover who has turned her passion for fine footwear into yet another career.

In February she opened the Ruby Slipper, an upscale shoe boutique adjacent to her art space, the Tinman Gallery, in the historic Garland District.

“I had always joked that we needed a good shoe store here in town,” she says of her latest business venture.

Although most of her shoes retail at or below $200, virtually all are “handmade, green, recycled, or one-of-a-kind,” Bradley says.

But slip a foot into one of the European handcrafted Giraudon leather wedge-heels, and you’ll never, ever think of shopping the clearance aisle at Payless again.

“The European shoes feel better, are prettier and last longer,” she says, though she admits the price tags can be intimidating. “I tell people they should divide the price by the number of years you can wear them.”

And given her sizable shoe collection, Bradley should know.

Last week, when she opened the door of her South Hill home, Bradley was wearing bright yellow driving loafers – the classic Italian car shoe known for its pebbled rubber sole.

The pair is one of dozens that spill forth from her closet into a small sitting area off the master suite. Here, among stacks of books and cozy furniture, shoes battle for space with Bradley’s countless designer handbags, scarves and hats.

She even rotates the collection twice a year, storing off-season footwear in a spare bedroom.

“My problem is out of sight, out of mind,” she says, gesturing at a unique shelving arrangement her husband, Scot, built to allow the shoes to be stored two-pair deep in the closet. “I needed to get to the point where I could see them all.”

On the floor nearby, swaddled in tissue paper and still in the box, Bradley shares some of her most recent acquisitions: light brown Prada sling-back sandals and a pair of Chloe ballet flats.

Then she breaks out the Chanels – red and black patent leather ballerina slippers.

Although you won’t find Chanel at the Ruby Slipper (yet), many of Bradley’s favorites are among the store’s growing inventory.

Morenatom, a family-owned company in Brazil that handcrafts a line of casual footwear with funky textures and flirty fabrics, is a personal favorite. And Salpy, an Armenian husband and wife team that makes labor-intensive sculpted wooden soles that are feather-light on the foot and known for their unique materials, includes a new line made from kimono silk that Bradley is bringing in this spring.

Bradley met the Sun Valley couple at a recent trade show in Las Vegas – something she will be doing a lot more of now that she’s in the apparel industry. But as her evolution from shoe lover to fashion entrepreneur continues, Bradley says she is keeping things in perspective.

“I love books. I love paintings,” she says. “And the shoes are just for fun.”