Cobbler outlasts competition with 40 years in shoe repair

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - John Patton's morning routine is so embedded in his lifestyle, he can't imagine doing anything else.

Getting up and out of bed at 5 a.m., his coffee is made, paper is read and he's headed to work at Patton's Shoe Repair by 7:30 a.m., where he's spent a good portion of his professional life.

Even at age 78, it's a routine he insists you can "set your watch to."

"As long as I'm healthy and able, I will probably continue working. I don't have any visions of retirement," he said. "My thought is if I were to retire and sit at home in an easy chair, my body would just shut down and I'd die. As long as I keep on working, I'll keep on living."

Patton, an aptly-named Army veteran, has known little else professionally, claiming 63 years of experience in the shoe repair industry, dating back to his time as a shine boy at Brightwood Shoe Repair in Indianapolis. The last 40 years have been spent at three different locations in Kokomo, where Patton's Shoe Repair has outlasted its once-stiff competition to be the only shoe repair shop in the region.

His business in the Maple Crest Plaza was destroyed by a fire at the nearby Ben Franklin Department Store in the mid-1980s. He then moved to Arnold Court, where a tornado leveled the business two years ago. Without hesitation, Patton took his equipment, which is now more than 60 years old, and moved across the parking lot to his newest location nestled comfortably at 407 Arnold Court.

With six different shoe repair businesses open in Kokomo at one point in time, Patton says it's the work he has done on shoes, boots, purses, leather jackets and zippers when he explains why the business was able to celebrate its 40th anniversary over the summer.

"I don't have to advertise at all. When you've been in business for 40 years, you're bound to be known," Patton said. "As long as you do good work and people know that, they don't mind bringing their shoes in. If I butchered their shoes, they wouldn't be back."

Patton's career in the shoe repair industry began when he was 14, where he saw a sign saying "shine boy wanted" at Brightwood. There, he learned the ropes of what the business was all about while also earning some spending money.

Three days after his 17th birthday, Patton decided he wanted to quit school and get a job. His mother threatened him: either go back to school or join the Army.

He spent the next five years in the Army, from 1954 to 1959, eventually earning the rank of sergeant.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said. "After I got in the Army, I found out how dumb I was for quitting school."

After he was discharged from Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, in December 1959, Patton enrolled in classes at nearby Columbus College, now known as Columbus State University. Not knowing what career path to take, he took education courses for three years before doing clinical work through the Shoe Service Institute of America. He eventually became a member of the National Registry of Orthopedic Shoe Servicemen.

Through years of practice and clinical work, he is now a board-certified pedorthic technician.

Several years after establishing Patton's Shoe Repair in 1975, Patton met a young lady named Judy who would stand by his side in business and every other aspect of life.

She originally started working for Patton's as a second job before the two got involved romantically in 1982. Two years later, they were married and have been the business' only co-workers for the majority of the past 30 years.

While Judy Patton is only in the shop for a few hours a day as she also works as a real estate agent, she said working side-by-side with the man she loves hasn't put a damper on the couple's personal life.

"We get to spend more time together that way," she said. "We share a lot of the responsibilities and if I can't do something, he'll go ahead and do it. It's not always easy working for your mate, but it does have its advantages."

Asked to explain his secret to success, Patton said he's been able to adapt to the needs of his customers.

There is no secret, really, to keeping open the doors to a business some think of as a dying breed, he said.

"This is a necessity that saves people money," he said. "You don't pay $100 for a pair of shoes and then throw them away because the heel wears out. For the price of a pair of heels, you can save $100 on a new pair of shoes.

"I think, probably, my work speaks for itself," he added. "Word of mouth is another part of it."

Word of mouth has brought people from all over the region into Patton's, he said, with customers traveling from Indianapolis, Westfield, Carmel, Noblesville, Tipton, Logansport, Peru, Rochester, Anderson, Frankfort and beyond.

Whether it's sewing patches on leather jackets, expanding the width of a pair of shoes with elastic, putting on a new heel or shortening the strap on a purse, Patton is ready for any challenge.

As he shortened the strap on a purse on a recent afternoon, Patton joked that the industry's design flaws often are to his advantage.

"I don't know why the industry makes the handles so long, but it sure benefits me," he laughed.

Much of the equipment he purchased used when starting the business in 1975 is still at work in the shop today, including an Auto Soler Wire machine he uses to install new soles on customers' shoes.

With no new machinery produced to fix shoes in decades and only one known machinery repair shop in the Midwest, Patton said using and maintaining the equipment that has kept him in business is a necessity to keeping the doors open.

"Once in a while a part breaks and you better be your own mechanic," he said. "The only one I know lives in St. Louis and you have to start paying him from the time he leaves there until he gets here and then pay him all the way back to St. Louis. You better be able to fix your own machine."

Monica Maggard has been taking her shoes to Patton's for about six years.

She'll typically take shoes in when they are in need of a new sole, she said, relying on Patton's expertise to add years onto the life of some of her favorite pairs.

"It's a dying breed, there aren't any other businesses like it around," she said. "When you've got a pair of shoes you like, though, and you can't find them anymore, you're going to do everything you can to get some more life out of those shoes. I want to keep some shoes until they're falling off my feet.

"I keep bringing stuff back," she added. "I'm happy with everything he's ever done. I'd just go buy another pair if I didn't like (his work)."

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Source: Kokomo Tribune, http://bit.ly/1Xmtx1y

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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com