Footwear fanatics will no longer have to trek to some massive metropolitan shoe shrine to ogle the latest products if Intel [2]'s dazzling virtual footwear wall catches on with retailers.

Unveiled today at the 2011 National Retail Federation's convention [3] in New York, the magical spinning interactive adiVerse Virtual Footwear Wall potentially puts as many as 8,000 shoes at shoppers' fingertips in a futuristic mash-up of e-commerce and the mall.

Intel partnered with Adidas [4] to show off what the wall might look like, and the results are pretty sweet. Designed by U.K. shop Start Creative [5], the wall renders products in 3-D, and allows a shopper to spin and zoom in on the shoes, and call up specs from a touch-screen display. Particularly hot models, like the company's F50 soccer shoe [6], have accompanying video and relevant information (like the fact that F50-clad feet scored 44 goals in last year's World Cup).

Supplemented by a supply of actual shoes that can serve as fit models, the display wall allows retailers to deliver massive inventory in a relatively small space. "We've leveled the playing field for small retailers," says Chris Aubrey, VP, Global Retail Marketing for Germany-based Adidas. "They can now act like a big flagship store in a town like New York." Not to mention the fact that the installation turns flat walls into prime selling space.

Aubrey says a prototype store will likely roll out in about a year in the U.K. -- a country that's nearly as enthusiastic about e-commerce as the U.S., but close enough for executives from the company's European headquarters to keep a close eye on how the wall is working out. "Germany itself still lags a bit," in its appetite for online shopping, Aubrey says.

Footwear sales in general are bouncing back, he says, after taking a hit during the global melt-down of 2008. "We had a very good 2010," he says. "I think consumer confidence is back."