Buying shoes in the Algarve can sometimes be difficult – we don’t have a particularly great choice of shops to choose from, so, following on from my series on Armação de Pêra, I’d like to introduce you to a lovely lady who has run her shoe shop in the town for 27 years.
Dolores Fenton has lived in the Algarve since the 70s when she moved here and opened a restaurant in Portimão called Green Hills, before moving to Senhora de Rocha (near to Armação de Pêra) and managed O Forno (another restaurant) before finally settling on a shoe shop in the centre of the popular seaside town.
“It was actually a toss up between a self-service laundrette and a shoe shop. The shoes won,” Dolores grins as she welcomes a client to the shop – okay, so perhaps it wasn’t a client, it was my pal Christine who you may recognise from my post on Lagos.
I’ve actually known Dolores for over 20 years because she’s a close friend of my mother-in-law’s – however we hadn’t seen each other for years. She’s such a sweetie and clearly has great taste because there are some lovely shoes and boots for sale in Sapataria Internacional (the name of her shop).
Dolores specialises in comfort and style – selling quite a few shoes by Manuel Vieira (well known for comfortable shoes). She also sells shoes up to size 41 and in some styles, even 42.
The shop is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 1pm / 3pm to 7pm and in the summer months is open even later.
Located on Rua Caravelas, you can contact Dolores on Tel. 282314565.
