2005-10-07 :: 12:19 p.m.
Media Whore II

Success in a shoebox
Haley Murray
Daily Egyptian
Kim Treger excitedly lifted her lime green shoes to her nose and inhaled deeply.
"Smell them," she insisted to another. They smelled like mint.
Treger, the owner of Walk the Line shoe store on the Carbondale Strip, is thrilled to have finally received a shipment of the popular, colorful clog-like shoes by Croc.
But Treger has anther reason to be excited these days. As numerous businesses around here over the years have closed or changed, this Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of the women's shoes and accessories store.
Treger, who graduated from SIUC with a degree in art, started out at Lori's Designer Shoes in Chicago. While there, she discovered she had a better knack for selling the funky shoes rather than the high-fashion heels.
"Comfort is my big thing," she said.
Upon her return to Carbondale, she worked at Susan's on the Square, a boutique on the Strip that is now closed. Treger had wanted to open her own shoe store within the shop, but soon realized she would need her own place, she said.
"My family and friends were just laughing," she said. "My old roommate called and said 'You can't even add, how are you going to run a business?'"
But the self-proclaimed "ditzy art major" has been able to keep business going in her individual way.
The bright fuchsia and purple painted walls inside the 16 foot-by-14 foot space support stacks of orange shoeboxes by Azaleia, a Brazilian shoe brand known for comfort, she said.
Although there are a few strappy heels on display, most shoes are clogs, slides, loafers and moccasins ranging from apple red to sky blue.
"If you can't run away from someone in it, I don't sell it," Treger said.
The funky, comfy shoes appealed to fashion merchandising major Erica Chatman, a senior from Chicago.
"They're stylish and look comfortable," Chatman said. "It's something I would wear."
In addition to the "funky, fun" shoes, Treger knits and sells scarves and some jewelry and clothing on consignment. She also unexpectedly sells kitschy toys like bouncing rubber eyeballs and Cleopatra figurines.
"The store gives me an excuse to buy those items and look through the catalogs," Treger said.
In fact, these wacky trinkets are what brought some students into the store in the first place.
Christina Legaz, a senior studying recreation management from Peoria, first visited the store because of the wind chimes that resembled chandeliers hanging in the windows, she said.
The window displays drew Amber Young, a sophomore studying child psychology from Carbondale.
"They always have weird stuff in the windows," Young said.
Soon, Treger will be starting an EBay consignment store from within her storefront shop called "Get Rid of That Stuff."
People can deliver their items to the store and Treger and her husband, Mr. Handsome Koron, will sell the items on EBay for a fee. The money from the sale will go back to the people who dropped the items off, Treger said.
As for the 10th anniversary date, Treger will be having a night out with her husband, whom she refers to affectionately as "Mr. Walk the Line."