STORE HISTORY:
The Shoe Hutch was established in 1977 by Leon Davenport, a career shoe store manager, and his wife Polly -- a true "Mom and Pop" retail operation. It remains a healthy "bricks and mortar" retail shop located in downtown Corvallis, a vibrant college town of about 50,000 people in the heart of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Company success has been based upon the store's broad selection of comfort footwear and its knowlegable sales staff -- trained in the "old school" art of shoe fitting and practitioners of a low pressure, non-commissioned selling approach.
The store recently celebrated its 24th year of continuous operation. Current owners of the store are the son of the founders, Tim Davenport, and his wife Angie Davenport. Valuable help in daily operations is added by manager Matt Hector, himself a third generation "shoe store kid." All three of these individuals have between 15 and 20 years experience in the retail shoe trade -- an extremely rare situation in today's world of giant corporate retailing chains with their generally under-trained and under-experienced employee pools. Three other people work at The Shoe Hutch, well-trained and fully competent part-time employees.
The Shoe Hutch remains a single store operation, constantly engaged in the hands-on process of putting together its own merchandise assortment via national and regional footwear markets. The Shoe Hutch crew tries to keep close to trends in the shoe industry within its niche of moderate to upper-moderate priced comfort-casual footwear.
THE BRANDS WE CARRY:
SHOE SHOPPING VIA THE INTERNET:
Buying shoes by mail is an extemely poor substitute for sitting down in person and doing trial-and-error shoe fitting. We encourage people within driving range to stop by The Shoe Hutch in person (See store hours and driving directions below).
In addition to the inherent difficulties of selling a fit-sensistive product such as footwear by mail, we find ourselves hampered by the marketing restrictions forced upon us by various shoe manufacturers, who often seek to severely limit the availability of their products via the internet. We do sell shoes by mail, however -- feel free to give us a call if there is a particular size or item you are looking for from among the brands we carry. Our standard postage charge is $3 per pair -- we pay the difference. STORE HOURS:
MONDAY through FRIDAY: 9:30 to 6:00
SATURDAYS: 9:30 to 5:30
SUNDAYS: Noon to 5:00
We close for Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, and a few other major holidays. We sometimes close on the Sunday of major 3 day weekends. Phone us and ask if you're concerned.
DRIVING TO THE SHOE HUTCH:
There are five primary routes into Corvallis. The town has streets named after "U.S. Presidents" (in order) running one direction and "Numbers" running the other...
1. Coming from the North or South via the I-5 Freeway: Take the "Corvallis/Lebanon" Exit (Highway 34) towards Corvallis (West). After 8 or so miles you will come into town over the Tyler Avenue bridge. Turn Left at the foot of the bridge onto Second Street. Count down your "Presidents" until you get to Madison. Turn Right on Madison. We are located on Madison Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
2. Coming from the South via Highway 99W: Highway 99W automatically becomes 3rd Street in Corvallis. Count up your "Presidents" one block past Madison Avenue -- which is a one-way going the wrong direction. Take a right turn on Monroe Avenue and go around the block (Right on Second Street, Right on Madison). We are located on Madison Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
3. Coming from the North via Highway 99W: Highway 99W automatically becomes 4rd Street in Corvallis. Proceed straight ahead until you get downtown. Count down your "Presidents" until you get to Van Buren. Turn Left on Van Buren Avenue. Turn Right on 2nd Street. Proceed a few more blocks and turn Right on Madison. We are located on Madison Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
4. Coming from Albany via Highway 20: Highway 20 automatically becomes 2nd Street in Corvallis. Count down your "Presidents" until you get to Madison. Turn Right on Madison. We are located on Madison Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
5. Coming from Philomath via Highway 20/34: Take the Downtown Corvallis offramp, which will take you down onto 3rd Street. Count up your "Presidents" one block past Madison Avenue -- which is a one-way going the wrong direction. Take a Right turn on Monroe Avenue and go around the block (Right on Second Street, Right on Madison). We are located on Madison Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
