Chelsea Market is holding one of the largest shoe sales in the city this week, and every pair was donated. Shoes for a Cure, run by the Fashion Footwear Charitable Foundation of New York, has more than 8,000 pairs of shoes on sale at 75 Ninth Avenue through Sunday, October 25, with the money going to breast cancer research.

The shoes come from more than 50 brands across the footwear industry, and the sale also includes bags, backpacks and totes.

What is on the tables

The organizers list boots, booties, sneakers, loafers, hiking shoes and heels, in sizes for women, men and children. The sale is priced below retail, and because the stock is donated by the brands, what is available changes as pairs sell. Earlier days usually have the widest range of sizes.

Hours

  • Thursday, October 22, through Saturday, October 24: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Sunday, October 25: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The sale opened Wednesday, October 21, and runs five days in all.

Thirty years of a shoe sale

Shoes for a Cure began in 1994 as a shoe sale under a tent in Central Park. It was started by the footwear industry group FFANY, with co-founders Jodi and Jerome Fisher, as a way for shoe companies to raise money together for breast cancer research. The foundation calls it the shoe industry's largest fundraising event, and says it has given more than $65 million to research over the years.

The foundation names some of the researchers its grants support. One is Dr. Lisa A. Newman, chief of breast surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine on the Upper East Side, whose programs include genetic research in Africa. Another is the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami. A sister sale ran in Miami from October 15 to 18.

The foundation's office is at 450 Lexington Avenue, and the New York sale has moved around the city over the years. This year it is inside Chelsea Market, the former Nabisco factory that fills the block between Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 15th and 16th Streets.

How to go

Chelsea Market is at 75 Ninth Avenue, at 15th Street. The A, C and E trains and the L stop at 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, a block and a half away. The M14 crosstown buses stop on 14th Street, and the High Line has a staircase at 14th Street on the market's west side.

Shoppers can combine the trip with lunch inside the market's food hall, which stays open during sale hours. Details and any updates are on the Shoes for a Cure site and on Chelsea Market's events page.

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