I heard recently that feet are getting bigger as bigger sizes of shoes have become increasingly popular in the last twenty years. I am not sure myself. Maybe people are more willing to be honest (with themselves) about their real shoe size and buy footwear that fits and doesn't scrunch feet up at the edges.
I have both big calves and wide feet so getting nice footwear is a difficult task. Also you have to be prepared to spend a fair bit to get good shoes. I used to buy the cheap ones for 5 or 10 pounds but they are excrutiatingly painful to wear. It is false economy really. You could have a look at the Duo website as they do some nice shoes for wider feet. I got my boots from there as they have bigger calf sizes. I never even thought that you could get shoes for wider feet - to be honest it did not bother me too much in recent years as I have bought pair after pair of plimsoll or flat type shoes as I cycle a lot around Nottingham. BUT whenever I tried to get smarter footwear for interviews or other special occasions - I could not find anything and would end up spending very little on a pair that I knew I would never wear again as they always hurt so much.
I saw this article when I was hunting for the solution to my problem and it gives some good advice on wide shoes:
http://www.duoboots.com/pages/useful_articles_review_of_wide_fitting_shoes/
I must add that I will never suffer for fashion and value comfort more than anything in clothes. It is especially important to buy shoes that fit as your feet bones will become damaged if you consistently don't.
This comment is in support of and response to the following on Everything2: The Wide Foot