I looked at this item many times over the last few months and didn't buy it based on a few of the reviews, although I could find nothing else that seemed to solve my problem, but would it only cause more problems, or be a huge disappointment? Finally, I decided to take a chance on it. I'm glad I did. One review mentioned there was nothing holding the poles together and they could be pulled off which was why they thought it wasn't very sturdy. I had to screw in all but the top poles which were part of the tension rod part, and mine seems very sturdy. I was very impressed (and relieved). Another review, rating this shoe tree highly, mentioned that it fit her narrow width shoes nicely. I wear normal B/Med width shoes, size 9-10, and with my over-the-door basic run-of-the-mill shoe rack, I've always had a problem fitting 3 pairs of shoes across side-by-side. So this review made me feel I was likely to have the same problem. I figured if I could only use half the spaces on this rack (18 pairs), I'd still be happy. I'm more than happy-- and surprised, as the racks for each shoe are closer together than the ones on my over-the-door rack. The fact that it's curved helps. I tried fitting one of the six shelves with a full 6 pair of shoes, and it wasn't a problem. Not saying it wasn't a little tight with some shoe pairings, but I didn't fear scraping the sides of the shoes, and there was no forcing. First thing I did was order 2 pairs of shoes I'd been drooling over because now I have a place to put more! This was pretty easy to put together, directions simple to follow. The only negative is that this arrived on a very hot day and the black plastic(?) weighted base part felt oddly sticky to me. Since this would be sitting on very light carpet, I was concerned it would leave marks. Probably not, but it seemed possible. I tried to rub some of the black off, and nothing rubbed off, but I was still concerned. I had a sheet of thin foam-cell packing material and put that between the base and the floor and trimmed. I doubt there is a problem, but I feel better about it having taken that step to create a barrier between the base and the carpet. I have to agree with one or two of the reviewers that mentioned how nice it would be if the shoes could somehow face outward. I don't know why that's something that comes to mind with this rack over others, because I never had that "what a shame it doesn't..." thought with my over-the-door rack, which has the same issue. With this rack, for some reason I think it could almost be pretty, decorative even, if my shoes faced outward. And yes, it would be easier to find the shoes-- which among 36 pairs (which I don't have... yet) would be more of a help than my much smaller capacity over-the-door shoe rack. I do plan to color coordinate the shoes on the rack a little better when I get a chance as I think that will be helpful. Another review mentioned the upper part of this rack could be rendered useless for shorter people due to the height needed for the shoe and basket racks. I agree, but I don't know how they could have made this shoe rack what it is without that problem. I'm 5'7", and there's no way I'm reaching that basket (which I put on the top because I doubt I'm going to use it much) without standing on something. And that's with minimal space between the racks. The top shoe rack is a bit of a stretch, but doable. To make things easier while I'm still setting up how I want my shoes in the rack, I'm keeping a small one-step stool handy, and I will be putting lesser used shoes on that top rack. I like that this rack takes up very little room. I put this in the corner of my dressing room (a spare bedroom) where I had a big fake bamboo plant. I had assumed the rack would take up more space than that fake plant (the whole 36 pairs of shoes thing had me thinking HUGE), and I was a little concerned I wouldn't have the access to my closet door (with mirror inside) that I had enjoyed. I was willing to take the hit to get my shoes off the floor, as they were often in the way of the closet door too, and dangerous as I was tripping over them a lot. I'm thrilled to report that this rack, with shoes on it, actually takes up less space than the fake plant! Talk about a win-win! If it matters to someone, I ordered this from Amazon directly (using Prime) rather than from another seller. I have to wonder if the review that said this wasn't sturdy and the pole pieces were easily pulled off had bought the product from Amazon or if they perhaps got a slightly different product from another seller. Just putting the idea out there since my shoe rack is different from theirs in this significant way. I am considering getting another one of these racks so that instead of storing my out-of-season shoes in boxes under the bed, I can store them somewhere more handy. This year in particular was a pain as our area experienced an early summer, went back to winter, then we had normal spring temperatures, with a few odd temperature days in between. I didn't have room for one season's shoes, and I needed access to ALL of them for 2 months! A second rack sure would have been nice. All in all, I'm very impressed with this item. It's twice what I paid for my over-the-door shoe rack that holds less than half the shoes, it's sturdy, and sits in a corner nicely. I consider this quite the bargain-- for what it is and what it does, I would have expected to pay much more.
