Calgary man's collection has plenty of sole
Randy Ockey has been collecting shoes for at least 15 years
CBC News
Posted: Mar 14, 2013 6:54 PM MT
Last Updated: Mar 14, 2013 6:52 PM MT
A woman with a shoe obsession is a pretty common stereotype — but what about a man?
Calgary's Randy Ockey, 31, has a shoe collection comprising nearly 200 pairs of sneakers that he stores in his basement.
"Even just when I was a kid, I'd keep the boxes and I'd put them in the box," says Ockey. "I really liked them."
Ockey has been collecting sneakers for at least 15 years. The shoes are almost all special edition high-tops released by big name players and the brands range from Jordans, Nike and Circa to Adidas, Reeboks, Pumas and more.
He even has a pair that looks like a tennis ball.
"I remember some kid when I was in junior high school had a pair of these and I always really wanted a pair and they re-released them last year," Ockey says.
Collection worth thousands
When he got married six months ago, Ockey wore sneakers. His wife says that while she knew he had a collection, she didn't realize it was an obsession.
"When we moved in together, the boxes kept coming and coming," says Meghan Ockey.
"It's fine if it's in the basement, but if it starts to come up and creeps into the rest of the house, we're going to have a more serious conversation," she said with a smile.
Ockey has heard all of the shoe fetish jokes and sometimes has to defend his collection to his guy friends — until they see it for themselves.
"They still like shoes enough where they'll want to look at them because they'll remember them, 'Oh, I wore that in high school!'" he said.
Ockey says he will sell his collection one day, and thinks it could be worth between $10,000 and $20,000.
Until then, he says there is plenty of room left on the shelves in his basement.
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