Head over heels for shoes? You're not alone!

You may have heard -- women tend to like shoes!

From lucky shoes, happy shoes to wedding shoes and "A"-game business meeting shoes, they all have special spots in women's closets.

The average woman owns 17 pair of shoes, reports "Early Show" Style Contributor Katrina Szish. And, despite the economy, shoe sales are soaring, with women buying three pair a year, and spending an average of $49 on each.

The eighth floor of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City is the largest shoe department in the U.S. It even has its own zip code, officially registered with the U.S. Postal Service. And of all the shoe boxes at Macy's were laid end to end, they'd stretch from New York City to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Szish says..

Is there such a thing as having too many pair of shoes?

"No," says a female customer at Saks Fifth Avenue.

"I have a closet dedicated to shoes," admits one customer.

"I appreciate them almost like artwork," another customer says.

Sixty percent of women in a new ShopSmart magazine poll say they're willing to tolerate pain for the perfect pair of shoes.

"When you purchase shoes, it stimulates a part of your brain called the selection spot. And it's the same rush that like a stamp collector gets when they find a cool stamp," says Mollly Triffin, features director at Cosmopolitan magazine.

The consensus among women is that a pretty shoe makes you feel good; they can make or break an outfit, and one Saks customer points out that, even if you have a fat day, shoes always fit!

The editors at Shopsmart magazine did a little shoe-shopping and testing on different shoe price points, styles and comfort, involving shoes from Mossimo from Target, Nine West and Manolo Blahnik.

ShopSmart Editor in chief Lisa Lee Freeman told "Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill that, "we are totally willing to sacrifice comfort for fashion. But in terms of our tests, we actually found, yes, spending more does not necessarily get you a more comfortable shoe."

According to Freeman, in addition to having panelists test out the shoes, they were also cut in half and sent to a shoe expert.

What did they find when the shoes were opened up?

Mossimo (from Target - $30)

"What we found is differences on the shoe that... the first shoe here, the Target shoe, was not as well constructed as the more expensive shoe," Freeman says. "Not as flexible. The inside fabric on the inside that's put in there is a little bit more stiff. These were mostly made of man-made materials. And women found these the least comfortable in the $30 price point."

Nine West ($69)

"Women said that these were the most comfortable shoe. And regardless of price, they said they would buy these shoes over any other of the shoes," Freeman adds.

Is there something in the construction that spoke to them?

"They were more flexible. The leather was nice. They had some nice construction details, too," she says. "The stitching was on the inside of the shoe as opposed to on the outside. So they're really a nicely made shoe for $70."

Manolo Blahnik ($575)

"These were definitely the sexiest of the shoes we tested. And they were the best constructed. They had -- all the shoes have a dowel in them, a metal dowel that holds up the heel but this one was reinforced with extra screws. It had a much more flexible lining on the inside of it. The leather was really nice, but women said their feet felt a little scrunched in these."

The Fit of a Shoe:

"This grouping is sort of represents a tip in our story when you're looking for shoes that are comfortable the two things you've got to keep in mind is, first, get the right size," Freeman stresses. "A lot of us, if something is on sale, we're snapping it up even though it's not our size. It's very important to get the right size. Cobblers can increase the size of the shoe up to half a size."

"But if you get a shoe that's not comfortable, it's probably never going to be comfortable. So that's one point. And these shoes have narrow heel cups. It's very important to look at the heel cup and make sure that it fits snugly but not too snugly. You don't want it rubbing on the back and give you a blister," she adds.

Comfortable Shoes:

Cole Haan:

"The point here that we wanted to make is that, as you get older, your foot pads actually thin out. So it becomes more and more important to look for shoes that have a little extra padding," Freeman explains. "And some shoe manufacturers actually make shoes with extra padding. And these are a couple of the manufacturers that do that. Cole Haan with Nike Air technology.

Kenneth Cole:

"Kenneth Cole has a line called gentle soles that's really nice. Whatever you're looking for, feel the inside of the shoe. And make sure there's a little bit of springiness in there," she says.

Flats:

Freeman point sout that "a lot of time we go to flats because we think it's going to be a comfortable shoe. Not necessarily. They don't have much support,"

"If it's got no support, actually it may not be any better than a really high heel because you're going to be uncomfortable. And if you're going to wear really high heels all the time, that's not good either. A lot of women don't know, but if you wear them all the time you can get stress fractures, bunions, hammer toes, all of that stuff."

Freeman suggests some helpful websites that can bring a comfortable bounce to your step:

Hard to find sizes: Onlineshoes.com

Design your own high heel: Shoesofprey.com

Shoe-subscription service: Justfab.com and Shoedazzle.com