The Agony of the Feet

Here's how to tell if your product is a hit: Do enough kids own it to make adults want to ban it? If so, you've got a winner. Take the case of Heelys, the sneaker skate with hidden, removable wheels that let kids glide for yards at a time: Some area stores have banned the shoes, citing safety concerns.
In February, the Giant supermarket chain posted signs reading: "For the safety of your children and our customers, we prohibit the use of retractable roller shoes/Heelys in our stores." Says Jamie Miller, Public Affairs Manager for Giant: "We decided to institute this as a policy. Nothing specific precipitated it other than the fact that we had liability concerns," Miller said. "We took more of a proactive stance to prevent potential injuries. We started seeing an increase in use and based on potential liability issues, we decided to prevent Heelys from coming into the store."
The Hunt Valley Wegman's Market (as well as all of their 71 stores nationwide) has also put the kibosh on Heelys. "We started posting signs last summer," reports Wegman's Director of Media Relations Jo Natale. "There haven't been any accidents, but customers were complaining, and that's what prompted us to take action. Our stores are between 90,000 and 130,000 square feet, so we can see where it's tempting. . . ."
At Graul's Market, general manager of the Ruxton and Mays Chapel stores, Dana Spatafore, says while there is no official policy regarding Heelys, "We are asking kids not to use them for their safety, and for our customers' safety. We have end caps and glass products on shelves and older customers. They have their place, but not in a public shopping area."
Heelys Inc.'s response? "We respect anyone's right to implement bans on skating and using Heelys wheeled footwear," says a spokesperson on behalf of Heelys parent company, Heeling Sports, Ltd.
Many retailers, it seems, would like to see those wheels anywhere but in their stores. At Target, for example, while no official policy is in place, the unofficial policy is, "Don't walk and roll." "If we see kids using them," says Dean Juran, Executive Team Leader of the Pikesville-based Target, "we ask nicely to not have them used in the store for safety purposes."
Still, perhaps the Heely Grinch isn't such a worry. On a recent visit to a Giant supermarket, we tested the Heelys ban by taking a 10-year-old well-Heeled girl with us to the store. She glided by the customer information desk twice and skated her way down every aisle.
And not one store employee stopped the good times from rolling.