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It’s all about high-quality men’s dress shoes at this West Village store. Opened in 2008 by Steven Taffel, who previously worked at Prada, the space is simple, with a wooden floor and lightly patterned wall lit by a spiny chandelier and tall windows on Christopher and Gay Streets. A few narrow seats surround a long, polished wooden table, with shoes lined up like place settings. The shoes come from dedicated European manufacturers like Artioli, Edward Green, and Church's, who can create custom shoes from fittings done in the store, and whom Taffel occasionally brings in-house for trunk shows. The supple leather uppers and lowers are extremely high-end, and are meant to be lifetime investments. — Andrew Cleary