A world record 'shoe-in' -- Darlene Flynn has been Inducted into Guinness Book of World Records

By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 4, 2006 11:24 PM PST ∞

ROMOLAND ---- It has been said that you can never have too many shoes. You can, however, have more shoes than anyone else in the world.

Darlene Flynn has been recognized as a Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of shoe-related items. With 7,765 pieces of shoe memorabilia. Flynn, 51, has a shoe collection on steroids. She began collecting everything and anything shoe-related six years ago when she borrowed the idea from a relative.

It all started with 28 shoe figurines.

"I don't know why it had to be shoes," she said. "I just love them and it kind of got out of control."

For the most part, Flynn's life is typical. She has owned and operated a bookkeeping, payroll and tax preparation business in Temecula for 18 years. She recently acquired Mail Mart on Winchester Road in Temecula. She is a mother of one son and takes care of her 93-year-old grandmother in her home.

A Murrieta resident for nearly two decades, she recently moved to Romoland. Her single-family home appears well kept and unassuming with its manicured lawn and gray-stone exterior. A cowboy-boot birdhouse hanging from a roof eve hints at the massive collection inside.

Immediately after stepping through the front door of Flynn's home, you are greeted by shoes.

Thousands upon thousands of shoes.

Her living room is lined with display cases ---- 10 in all ---- with each inch of each shelf filled with tiny shoes.

While her collection spans the gamut of shoe-shaped furniture, shoe-themed art, shoe teapots, shoe soap and shoe-styled stationary, she also has more than 700 miniature shoe figurines.

These little shoes were the basis of her collection that started in 2000 when she visited a family who collected the tiny keepsakes. When Flynn finalized her divorce in 2001, her shoe collection took off.

"I didn't have to focus on a husband anymore and I had time to concentrate on the shoes," she said.

And concentrate she did.

She has a replica of the Disney Cinderella glass slipper, she has Dorothy's red slippers, a Betty Boop collection, Marilyn Monroe-inspired high heels, and Barbie shoes galore.

Wooden shoes, leather moccasins, cloth shoes, cast iron boots, woven sandals, beaded heels and even a shoe made from the ash collected at Mount St. Helen's eruption. The world has come to her in the form of shoe thimbles, shoe spoons, shoe ornaments and shoe Christmas cards.

As for shoes she can actually wear, Flynn said she "only" has a hundred pairs. She's a size 8.

Flynn has also set out to travel the globe finding footwear and following her idol, Raine, the designer of the Just the Right Shoe line. To celebrate the world record, Raine will be coming to Flynn's homes to attend a dinner (yes, there will be shoe-shaped food) and will view the shoes.

"She is like the top movie-star celebrity for me, and she's going to be at my house," Flynn said.

To view Flynn's entire collection, you must see the whole house. She frequently repeats, "here is another shoe room," as she gives a tour of her home. She has a shoe office, shoe bedroom, shoe kitchen, where she talks on her red-stiletto shoe phone, and so on. Her backyard patio continues the footwear genre with shoe-themed flower pots and electric lights.

"I would have put in a shoe-shaped pool if I hadn't run out of money," Flynn said as she looked out at her plain rectangular pool.

So how much money does it take to support Flynn's shoe habit?

"I think I've spent between $150,000 to $200,000 since I started," she said.

At one point, she paid $1,800 for a single miniature shoe. However, her most valued footwear item was free ---- it was a wedding boot worn by her late grandmother.

Besides amassing shoe merchandise, Flynn has amassed a memory of where, when and why she purchased each shoe. Almost instantly she recalls the story behind each of her 7,765 shoe objects.

"I love having them around," she said. "I look at them everyday and I remember when I bought them and my travels around the world."

About two years ago, Flynn recognized that she had a collection of shoes to be reckoned with.

"Even my shoe friends are in awe of the collection and spend hours and hours around my house," she said.

The past Guinness World Record for the largest shoe collection belonged to a woman in India who had accumulated 4,414 shoe items.

Flynn had to inventory, describe and photograph each shoe item to contend for the record. It took her three months to complete the compilation, after which she sent off her entry to the United Kingdom this summer.

Since 1955, the producer of Guinness Stout has been putting out its book of records, listing records of virtually everything that can be counted or measured.

Flynn waited for weeks before a plain paper package with the Guinness crest arrived at her office in October. Inside was her official induction into the ranks of world records and her certificate, which she now keeps in her living room.

"I've probably added another 200 shoes to my collection since I applied for the record," she said. "I wonder if I am allowed to break my own record."

Flynn shows no sign of slowing her hobby down. She said she will stop only when "they stop making shoes."

Her goals now are to create a shoe museum, to be on "Oprah" and ---- not surprisingly ---- to have a shoe named after herself.

And as far as living in a shoe, Flynn has tried. She placed a $6,000 bid on E-Bay to purchase a 16- by 20-foot building shaped like a shoe, but was outbid.

"I would live in a shoe, if it was big enough to hold my other shoes," she said.

Until then she is right at home where she is, surrounded by the record-breaking collection of her favorite things, even her dog ---- Shoes-y-Q.

Flynn waves goodbye from her doorway while her shoe shaped earrings and necklace sparkle and her shoe shirt glitters ---- all the while she stands barefoot.

Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315 Ext., 2616, or nsack@californian.com.

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