Dragging my 8 year old son to shop for shoes is a nightmare - he has a wide foot for his age, and there are precious few shoe companies that make wides for children.  He attends private school and the uniform specifies brown or black shoes, and I had him try on what seemed like every single brown or black dress/casual kid's shoe within a 75 mile radius.  The majority weren't wide enough, other places didn't have his size and we never returned.  After finding New Balance sneakers in wide for him, I found these online.  They were $65 on the NB website, but Amazon had them for $39, and free shipping both ways.  The first pair was a 4.5 W, which we returned and we finally settled on 4 XW, which fits him beautifully and he is happy (and so am I).  I will look for New Balance wides on Amazon from now on for his shoes.
So, beyond the fact that they come in wide and extra-wide, and the price and shipping were fantastic, a little about the shoe now!  They're nice - mesh for cooling comfort, very nice tread - better than just an average running shoe - more like a trail shoe.  Side by side with the NB sneakers, these are a lot more rugged.  The laces stay tied and they are a nice rich brown - not the yellowish-brown shown in the photo.  Run true to size, although seem narrower than usual since he had to have the XW.  Great shoes, very pleased.
UPDATE - (June 24, 2013) - I am very impressed at how well these shoes held up.  He wore them almost every day to school for the entire school year, and on weekends when we went hiking he wore them on the trail.  He also wore them to church quite a bit.  Only toward the end of the school year did they start to wear a bit - the mesh is starting to come undone from the leather trim.  None of my kids shoes have ever held up this well - I only wish they would now carry his size, but they don't.  I'm looking to buy him another pair or two for summer and beyond.  I can only hope they will come out with more available sizes as it gets closer to the new school year.