A downtown Winnipeg shoe store was the scene of a random act of kindness this week, when a local farmer bought a new pair of boots for a homeless man.

Staff at Canadian Footwear on Adelaide Avenue say the farmer came into the store on Thursday when he overheard the homeless man asking for a refurbished pair of boots.

Staff at Canadian Footwear on Adelaide Avenue say a customer bought two pairs of boots on Thursday: one for himself and another for a homeless man who had come into the store. (Google Street View)

The store did not have any in his size, so the farmer bought the man a new pair.

"It certainly kind of caught us all off-guard just how quickly this gentleman was willing — for a complete stranger — just offer to pay his footwear," employee Rich Hildebrand told CBC News on Friday.

Hildebrand said once the farmer and the man started talking, they realized they did not live that far from each other, and they even knew some people in common.

"In further conversation with him, he had sort of stated that … he was doing well for himself…. It was a time to sort of pay that forward to somebody else," he said.

The farmer paid for two pairs of boots, and both men left the store happy, Hildebrand recalled.