One odd thing I find about buying shoes these days is that the way my knees feel while walking in a pair of shoes is as important as how my feet feel. Besides shoes, I had walking boots on my list of things to get if they had some comfortable ones in my size. The salesman brought out a pair of boots and a couple of pairs of shoes to try on. To my amazement, the boots fit very well and treated my knees with respect. -And they were cheaper than the sneakers.
I was out of the store, boots in hand, in no more than 15 minutes.