Bluchers or Derbys or whatever they are called

Do you wear dress shoes 4-5x a week? If so you'll get the best wear out of things if you have at least 4-5 pair so that you can keep a week between wears. So you might want to consider a lower per shoe budget for at least a few shoes if you're revamping everything.

It's sacrilege to many folks, but I'm actually moving away from the more rigid and formal Goodyear welt to more Stitchdown and Blake welted shoes. Years of cycling, soccer and rock climbing shoes have left my feet sensitive to uncomfortable shoes, and sadly, GYW seems to always be uncomfortable for me.

Alden makes one shoe, the Indy boot that I like. All the rest are a strong meh. I haven't been impressed with any of my Allen Edmonds or their resoling. Rancourts work great for me and I'll definitely be getting more. I've got a fifteen year old set of MiUSA J&M's that are my one pair of truly comfy GYW shoes. I will likely pick up a pair of the newer Oak Street Bootmaker Bluchers to try out.

I resole about every eighteen to twenty four months and have a good local cobbler and don't see the value in sending them back to the manufacturer after comparing results. But it's still handy if you're somewhere that you don't have a good shop. I do find that v tread and Dainite soles greatly extend the life of soles and, of course, work much better in inclement weather, I'm slowly migrating to about 50/50 plain vs all weather soles.

He's been rocking Macy square toes, doubt he's gonna immediately start crashing formal dinner parties. Keep it versatile, unless you really need oxfords

I wear suit about 5-10x a year and mostly likely the next purchase will just be used for that as its for formal dinner parties, weddings, and interviews. Unless I do get into the new career I was thinking of, not much wear yearly. Just want something of better quality, fit and not out of style.

I do my weekly Nordstrom Rack/Nordstrom rounds and all the dress shoes I see/tried on in my general sizes are either too narrow, instep too tight, or just plain ugly.

they only have one model at nordstrom, the park avenue (cap toe I think). I'm a 9.5 brannock. It felt really narrow when i tried a pair on.

Their shoes tend to run narrow, but the PA is one of the wider lasts. They'll either try to get you into a half size larger or an E width, or both. Best to just avoid their uncomfortable foot crushers. PA's aren't a 100% MiUSA model either, should you care.

Meh, I've been in the oxford/bal camp and in the blucher camp and really don't see the point of oxfords outside of black tie. I'm fine with a slightly less formal shoe with a suit. I'm also the sort of heathen that doesn't hesitate to roll red Dainite soles with a suit. Of course I've also pretty much stopped wearing suits unless someone's shuffled off this mortal coil and such.

You mention MiC, but don't totally rule it out . . .

These guys make 360 GYW shoes with an Alden silhouette, quality leathers, and a significantly reduced price. The bluchers look great:

grantstoneshoes.com/collections/all

I'm considering a pair of the Dune longwings.

If you don't have to wear the boring AF work-a-day shoes like some of us, try the loud Trickers or similar. Much more versatile with jeans and khakis and still fine for 99% of suit worthy events. Maybe not funerals though, at least if you liked the dearly departed.