While the shoes are waaaaaay out of my budget, I also don't think they're unreasonable prices. I'm sure they're fantastic quality for one thing... but more importantly, think about how shopping has changed in the last year, even just the last few months. Sales of 25% used to be a HUGE deal a lot of the time but with the weak economy customers have come to expect discounts going up to 50, 60, 70%. A lot of people won't make a purchase unless prices drop that much. From a business standpoint, you almost have to set a higher starting price to compensate for how much you're eventually going to be forced to drop the prices in sales.