They’ll come to the shop, and then go to the bakery or to the bookshop, here, there, wherever. People are looking for destination towns for a day out, or they might come down here camping for the weekend and stay down at the Showgrounds or out at one of the three or four different camping spots. I think it’s a destination town, Canungra. What do you think the Shoe Vault really provides to the area? A lot of ladies who come up from the Gold Coast from the day, they’ll have coffee, and then they’ll come shoe shopping, and then have lunch and they’ll always say “Everybody is so friendly here!” It’s a lovely community. The community is lovely, really nice people. Mainly women, but I really like male customers because they come in, try on one pair of shoes that fit, and go “Yep! I’m done!”Īre you a local? What’s your opinion on the area and the community? I have customers from the age of 18 to 88. It works really well.ĭo you have any particular trends in your clientele? It’s a nice relaxed lovely atmosphere out here with the gardens, and it adjoins the park so they can walk straight through, and the children can go play while mum has a look through the market or the shoe shop. It’s a really lovely little spot away from the main road. I’ve been gradually building it up and making it more and more family-friendly so now ladies can bring their prams through on the concrete pathways, that sort of thing. It’s open Saturday and Sunday, from 8:00 to 2:30. Now we have six little shops out the back, so I set up the market which has been here for 4 and a half years. So recently I’ve done a renovation out here. When we first bought the property, it had all these little buildings out here, but they were unloved and run-down. Anything out of Europe sells well.Ĭan you tell me more about the market that you run in the back area behind your store? Ladies tend to like the European leathers. Ladies get to know the shop and they know they can get a pair of boots from Spain or Portugal and they’re the finest European leather, and they’ll travel from anywhere to get them. That being said, we have a short period of about 2 or 3 months where you can sell winter boots, and you have to have them. In Queensland, you can sell summer shoes all year long. I also have a really good range of orthotic thongs and slides for men, leather sandals, all very comfortable.ĭo you rotate a seasonal stock for summer and winter, or do you stock the same selection through the year? I have Florsheim, Saramanda, Byron Bay shoes. Is it mainly ladies’ shoes you stock, or do you cater for men too? Most of the ladies’ shoes come from Europe. I try to find them the most comfortable $30 shoes they can buy. Some ladies just want to spend a cheap and cheerful $30 and walk away happy in a comfortable pair of shoes. Not everybody wants to spend $300 on a pair of shoes. I try to cater for everybody, that being the $300 shoes down to the $30 shoes. I see comfortable, beautiful shoes, rather than beautiful but uncomfortable shoes. I think that the world is going more casual all the time. It’s more of a casual, smart-casual look rather than high-end racewear shoes. I like to think that I have my own personal style. How would you describe the identity of your store? Do you consider yourself more high-end or more accessible? We came to Canungra to look at another business and this building was up for lease, so we decided to open the Shoe Vault, and here I am! So I knew I could sell shoes and I knew I could merchandise, it was just finding the right spot. I’d done 19 years of merchandising and I’d also sold shoes. I looked at a few and they didn’t appeal to me, so I decided to build my own. My husband wanted me to buy a business for myself. Today she shares just how she’s kept it this way- along with other fascinating news about the area, including the history behind the local market that springs up behind the building every so often. Nora Jones has owned the Shoe Vault for six years, and in that time it has remained the best location around Canungra to find quality, affordable footwear.
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