Take advantage of this specialized knowledge like you would a tour guide’s. You could scour NYC or crisscross Europe looking for the perfect shoe, but Paul Karaz is more likely to have it here in Fayetteville. He and his staff pride themselves on taking the time to help their customers make a decision that will make them feel great and look great.
The store only stocks up-to-date wearable fashions from top designers like Donald J. Pliner, Stewart Weitzman and Mephisto. Karaz adds his own creative touch to their couture by ordering custom combinations of materials and finishes—red patent leather, distress metallic craquelure, white canvas satin, nubuck, mushroom cork, suedes; shades, hues—permutations down to the stitching which ensure that what you find at Paul Karaz, you won’t find anywhere else.
The same attention to details has been lavished upon the store itself. Enter from a broad sidewalk lined with simple hand painted benches. A steel railing winds like a vine into a room bathed in natural light. Undulating orange waves roll across the ceiling. Subtle geometry can be found throughout the room: earthy diamonds on one wall, a two-tiered gray dais in the center of the room, concentric circles on a throw rug, rough square tiles, graceful glass and steel shelving, an arcing brass wall studded with rivets.
Paul Karaz isn’t worried much about competition because in a sense he doesn’t have any. “Until they make a computer you can slide your foot into, shopping for shoes on the web just won’t make sense,” he says.
Buying shoes should be a luxurious experience. Here, it is.
