Bunions. Corns. High arches. Flat feet. Bring ’em on. Chances are, whatever your foot ailment might be, 90-year-old Maine shoe retailer Lamey-Wellehan has the technology to pinpoint it and the shoes or accessories to match.

Lamey-Wellehan now offers i-Step, a new machine that scans a person’s foot for common problems and pressure areas. The machine is available at all six of the company’s retail locations statewide. The company also has two board-certified pedorthists, or foot specialists, on staff and a handful more awaiting training to help provide unique footwear service.

“Pedorthists are like pharmacists in that they can fill a prescription from a doctor,” said Bethany Meehan, public relations director for Lamey-Wellehan. “Our goal is to have one in each location.”

Lamey-Wellehan, a longtime retailer in southern Maine, expanded to include a new store on Bangor Mall Boulevard about a year and a half ago. The company will open its seventh location in Waterville March 17 to coincide with the company’s 90th anniversary. But the real noise around Lamey-Wellehan has been technological advances like i-Step.

“We have gone full-bore into the technology world,” Meehan said. “But it’s a good combination of technology with good old-fashioned Maine values.”

Maine values are rooted deeply in Lamey-Wellehan, a second-generation company that started in Lewiston in 1914. Second-generation owner Jim Wellehan took over the business when his father passed away, and has kept the company’s tradition of superior service intact.

“Jim is big on using the word guest rather than customer,” Meehan said. “We want [guests] to feel like they would if we were welcoming them into our living room.”

Lamey-Wellehan has always carried quality shoes, stocking top brands shoppers aren’t likely to find at stores in malls or department stores. Georgette Sobey, manager of the Bangor Lamey-Wellehan, said her store’s location – on the access road to the mall – puts it at a slight disadvantage.

“A lot of people have tunnel vision toward the mall,” Sobey said. “Most of our customers know our reputation. Word of mouth is good, but I don’t think we have cracked the potential of this area.

“People come to us because they know they’re going to get attention. The prices might be a little higher, but people come for the service.”

The prices are higher, but employees still lace up shoes for you at Lamey-Wellehan. Both shoes.

They still measure your feet with that cold metal contraption. Sometimes they help you into your shoes with a shoehorn. Not just the kids, but adults, too.

“I keep a shoehorn in my pocket and it always amazes me how many people don’t know what it is,” Sobey said.

Meehan said she could go on all day with stories about the history of the 90-year-old shoe retailer. One story that stands out in her mind, though, has become folklore among employees. As her eyes light up, you can tell she loves to tell it.

It was a stormy day, Meehan says, with snow piling up on sidewalks and few guests visiting the Lewiston Lamey-Wellehan location. Jim Wellehan, the company’s second-generation owner, waited patiently inside for customers who didn’t come.

A car pulled up and stopped in the parking lot, Meehan continues, and the driver exited, braving the weather to bring an unusual request to Wellehan. A woman in the passenger seat of the car, who was severely overweight and couldn’t exit the vehicle, desperately needed a pair of shoes.

Wellehan thought for a moment, Meehan says, put on his coat and hat and went out into the snow to help the woman. He brought out box after box of shoes, assisting the woman for nearly an hour while she sat in her car. When he finally found a pair that fit her just right, Wellehan sent the gracious woman away with new shoes.

“We just don’t think twice about stuff like that,” Meehan said.

I-step is creating the buzz at Lamey-Wellehan these days. With help from an associate, guests place their feet on a scanning mechanism and seconds later they can see blueprints on a screen in front of them. Meehan said the technology wasn’t exactly cheap, but it helps bridge the gap between employees and guests. Sobey said i-Step is slowly catching on in Bangor.

“People have high expectations when they come to a store like ours,” Sobey said. “Our store is kind of a rarity today, a dying breed.”

Sobey is next in line for pedorthic training – along with five other employees this summer – which consists of a six-week session at one of two locations Lamey-Wellehan uses, Ball State University in Indiana and Milwaukee Medical College. Sobey said pedorthists are not only trained to locate foot problems, but are taught to design and produce shoes and support products on an individual basis to alleviate and prevent foot injury and disease.

Lamey-Wellehan is specialized, make no mistake about it, Meehan said. They sell shoes exclusively and they take great pride in doing so. The company has been around for 90 years and shows no signs of slowing down. Meehan said there could be more on locations on the way after the Waterville opening and hints at a possible location in Presque Isle.

“We looked at our revenue from the last year and we were up about 5 percent,” Meehan said, referring to reasoning for opening the Waterville location. “We figured if we were growing, let’s keep growing.”