Rodney

Out on the West Coast, business casual can be khaki (sp?) dockers and either an informal long-sleeve shirt (no button-down collar, not fitted, usually patterned), or a good polo shirt. With that, you wear any quality leather shoe that completely covers the foot and is not a sports shoe. Browns and earth tones are fine, no reason to go to dark colors.

On the east coast, things are more formal, as I observed when east coast business visitors would come out to where I worked and do their own version of casual. They tended to darker slacks and black, dressier shoes. The shirts might have patterns, but they would be conservative patterns, and the shirts would be more likely to be button-down, even if no tie was worn. Sometimes even east-coasters would do polo or golf shirts, but that depends on the company culture: some corporations give out polo/golf shirts monogrammed with the company name or logo to employees who complete certain in-house training programs, which tacitly makes such clothing acceptable casual wear.

My advice is to dress on the formal side of casual for the first week or two, with tie, and scope out what everybody else is doing. At worst, you'll be exactly where you need to be. At best, they'll be dressing more casually and you'll be able to loosen up as well. Always a good idea to overdress at first. People understand.

You should have at least one pair of black shoes that is acceptable for formal occasions. (I assume that you have a suit somewhere.) It's possible to buy a shoe that fits the bill and is also a good walking shoe. I'd bite the bullet and buy a pair.

Oh yeah, if you have a Ross Dress for Less store in your area, head there. It's an off-price clothing tore that's a really good source for quality business casual wear, cheap -- slacks, shirts, ties, belts. They even have shoes.