Mastershoe

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM THE OWNER MR JE GILES. Mastershoe as a shop is good the in-​store customer service is excellent HOWEVER if you need a refund DO NOT expect to get one easily. My husband very kindly bought me a pair of boots for Christmas that cost £120 in the sale by a well known outdoor company, so we were expecting good quality and to be well made. On my first wear the boots split to reveal the foam so we took them back and exchanged then for another pair. The same fault occurred in two areas on the boot and these were the second pair! So we took them back for a refund to then be told that they needed to be sent to the head office for an inspection. We received a letter from the owner of the company MR JE GILES who wrote to say that we would not be getting a refund. So my husband called spoke to MR GILES who wouldn’t listen kept talking over my husband and also HUNG up on him three times. He then would not answer the phone for half an hour, eventually my husband got through to him again to be told that it was the way I had been wearing them. Any way I called Mr Giles and politely told him that when the boots were back in my possession I will be taking this matter to Trading Standards and will be leaving a negative review on line. I then get a call two minutes later to say that a cheque will be in the post! I will not be returning.

Mastershoe… Mmm it smells so much like leather in here and a little bit like my garage from when I was a kid.
If you particularly care about what’s on your feet this probably isn’t where you would do your shoe shopping, but this shop does serve a very useful purpose; it sells useful shoes at very, very low prices.
For example, it is perfect for that all-​purpose black plimsoll, which doesn’t sound that useful or that appealing but if you are a waiter it is perfect, as you will enviably ruin whatever shoes you wear in the restaurant they might as well be dirt cheap and comfy.
They always have a sale on here! So things are even cheaper. I even noticed a pair of men’s wellies for £15 today! £15, I’ll take two pairs and will be leaving them in a ditch (a bin, sorry Mr Eavis) somewhere in Glastonbury.

This is an uninspiring-​looking shoe shop on Park Street, but it does stock some good quality brands if you can persuade yourself to step inside.
The interior is plain and uninviting, but there is at least plenty of space to look around and to sit and try on shoes, and the selection is fairly good if you’re after casual footwear. They mainly stock trainers, comfortable shoes, boots and sandals, although there are also some rather unglamorous shoes that could be worn to the office.
If you’re into brands such as Sketchers, El Natura Lista, Timberland, the trendy but expensive Camper brand, and Birkenstock, then this is as good a place as any to shop, as the prices can be a bit lower than in some of the trendier shops selling the same ranges. They also sell those new Sketchers ‘tone-​ups’, which are meant to improve posture and tone up your bottom while you walk — bonus! The staff here are not intrusive, and let you get on with browsing — but are helpful if you need to try a different size.

The red haired sales assistant in Master shoe is so lovely, greets you with a warm friendly smile. I looked around but couldn’t find the shoe I was after, described it to her and was let straight to it. Sadly the shoe I wanted was not in stock, she rang around until she found the shoe in my size, is ordering it in and going to hold it for me! Hoorah, Thank you Mastershoe

Mastershoe is a bright and airy shop which sells a variety of shoe styles and sizes. I would say that it caters more for men than female as when I visited there was a slightly limited choice for females.
The staff were wonderful, I hate nothing more than being interrupted while I browse with staff trying to offer advice. As mean as it sounds, I know what I like and don’t like and I don’t need someone telling me that a pink wellington boot would look just fantastic on me — NO IT WOULD NOT!
Mastershoe just let me be, and yet were very efficient and rushed out to get me the right size.
Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough variety of styles for me to rate it higher. Worth a look if you are a man though.

What I can never stand is that feeling when you walk into a somewhat confined and rather smelly room and there are millions of shoes surrounding you, and you are meant to choose one that is right for you while the shop keeper is sneezing in your ear!
Thankfully mastershoe is alot more chilled out and spacious, granted there is more choice for women, but thats a given, even if I don’t find a shoe i’m after I am just pleased I have the space and time to at least have a look (and without being sneezed on.)
Park street has alot of stores on so if you don’t find what you are after here there will be somewhere else on the high street for sure.

This is a pretty large shop, though for the amount of space they have available they could fit a lot more in. The range on offer is predominately female, though that’s fair enough, I suppose, when you consider the fairer sex’s obsession with all things shoe.
Women be warned: this isn’t the most subtle store, so don’t come here if you’re after some dainty high heels or a slinky pair of slingbacks. Here you’re more likely to get a pair of funky wellies, furry knee high boots, or some good old fashioned Doc Martens (surely they’re due a comeback some time soon?). A largely functional, slightly unexciting range provided by a functional, slightly unexciting store.

I really am not good at shoe shopping. Far too often, I’ve come home with shoes too big, too small, or just not that nice. It’s not my fault. Shoe shops are weird places. You have to keep on sending some poor soul scurrying off to fetch you shoes and then they hover around as you self-​conciously trot up and down trying to decide if you like them.
X takes some of the strain out of shoe shopping. The people here are really chilled out. They don’t try and sell you the shoes which I really like (because really, what is there to sell? You look at the shoes, and you see how they if they fit. There isn’t too much they can tell you to change wether they fit well and are comfy). The person I had helping me was even capable of eye contact and a bit of a conversation, not something they manage in every shop. The selection on offer is fine for me, though not massive, and might not satisfy some. Nonetheless, X is a fine place to get your shoes, and is nice and chilled out about it.

I really rate the selection at Mastershoe and they seem good at getting in a varied range that isn’t exactly the same as all the other shops. The prices are so-​so. Sometimes I’ve found a great discounted pair of shoes so cheap it’s hard to believe they have made a profit. Other times prices have seemed a bit steep for what I actually got.
I bought a pair of boots a few years back that I truly loved but the sole started coming away within five wears. I returned them and they were quite resistant to issuing a refund. The shoes, my proof of purchase, etc. had to be sent to head office for inspection before they reluctantly agreed to refund me. I felt like I was a bit of a criminal until a week later I met someone who had the exact same problem with the exact same pair of boots. Hmm.

Mastershoe isn’t the most respectable or admired of places to be buying your shoes, but if you know what you’re looking for and want it for cheap, Mastershoe may be the answer.
The handiest thing about the shop is that the shoes are easily on display to try on without having to ask the shop assistant for everything you want to try on.

Pretty local (2 stores in Bristol and 1 in Bath) with a great selection of shoes — both major brands and not so major ones. Often a good deal to be had too.
What is really great about Master Shoe, is that their store is really quite big for a shoe store — there are lots of shoes, but there is also lots of space for trouble-​free browsing and trying on. Only too often I find myself in a pokey shoe store, hopping on one leg trying to pull off a boot whilst fighting for a chair (there are invariably 2 and about 5 people) to break my fall.
My husband is still mourning a pair of shoes he bought at Master Shoe — they travelled and saw much of the world with him… before being stolen in Thailand!