Inträdesbiljett till Bata Shoe Museum

If you have an hour.. you can go have some fresh juice, enjoy the sunshine, go for a walk. You won’t miss anything by not visiting this museum. It’s just a bunch of shoes from all the eras.

It had a handwritten sign on the window that said “Closed. Sorry for the inconvenience.” This was our only day in Toronto, so this was very upsetting.

Very cool museum tracking the history of footwear from Roman’s to Anasazi Indians to the Tudor’s and popes Cowboy boot collection and other special exhibits French shoe designer Andre Perguia

What an interesting museum of history from Roman to Indian to English and Japan They had a special exhibit of cowboy boots and a special exhibit on Andre Pergula Warm knowledgeable staff and free tours

Quite a nice building and very friendly staff but needs to draw you in to the story and history of shoes more

The permanent exhibits are interesting but I will focus on the current special exhibits since there are many, many reviews on the permanent exhibits. The André Perugia exhibit was such an eye-opener since we had never heard of him. This exhibit brings to light how much he contributed via innovative designs and contributions to major brands. They pack a lot of history into a modest space. The Rough & Ready special exhibit captures the history and evolution of cowboy boots. Again, we learned so much about the origins and the subsequent evolution. Plus examples of many famous brands. The curators did a fabulous job on both special exhibits. Definitely worth a visit even just to see these two special exhibits.

I was drawn to visit partly by the story of the Bata family, the company, and their impact around the world. But it was all about the shoes. I have visited exhibitions about Cartier, Faberge , fashion houses, and the family story and struggle is entwined with the product. And the story is truly incredible. For example a book like A Suitable Boy based in India touches on the Bata legacy in India. Tom Stoppard, one of the Uk’s greatest writers and Oscar winner owed his existence to his father being a Bata employee. At the same time there is a darker legacy. And I wanted to know about the story of the Bata products. But I could find nothing at all about the extraordinary Bata family and business story. So disappointing. And would have been so much more interesting than cowboy boots. So while the history of shoes was quite interesting, the place needs a rethink and makeover.

I was looking forward to visiting this museum, but it was disappointing. The lower level is a history of shoes, which both my husband and I found interesting. The second level was cowboy boots, which was interesting, but how many cowboy boots can you look at? The third level was athletic shoes, which I found totally uninteresting. I was hoping to see more 20th century shoes from the 1900’s to the 1960’s etc. or “famous” shoes, e.g. “these were worn by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City” or “these were the spats worn by George Raft in ‘Some Like It Hot.’” We only spent 45-60 minutes. There is a small gift shop and restrooms are available.

What a fun museum! Exhibits were well designed and informative. Also Sundays are free admission. Definitely worth a visit when in Toronto.

We heard about this museum from the hop on hop off bus tour and thought it sounded interesting. The museum is a lovely building with the displays spread over 3 floors. We thought it was really well set out. There was a permanent display and a couple of themed ones. There's an informative display about the history of footwear in different cultures. We also saw displays about footwear in crime, and cowboy boots. Apparently they own a few celebrity shoes but they're not always on display. We liked seeing Elton John's boots and Bela Lugosi's shoes. There's an area downstairs where children can try on lots of different styles of footwear. Reasonable cost and worth a couple of hours to visit.