Indiana shoe repair business continues as industry fades

HIGHLAND, Ind. (AP) - Dan Forster would love to retire, but his passion to keep his shoe repair business going keeps those thoughts at bay.

He's owned and operated The Cobbler Shop in downtown Highland for more than 30 years. It originally was opened in 1955 by his late father, Leslie, who was more commonly known as Bud.

Forster wants the business to stay open long enough until he finds someone who can be trained and wants to keep it going.

"I'd really hate to see it just close since there just isn't as many shoe repair shops open today as when I first got into this business," said Forster, who was trained by his dad and began working in the business when he was a high school freshman in 1965.

"It would be nice to see (my) location continue on as a shoe repair shop, so people would continue to have a place to come to, (to) have their shoes and purses fixed."

None of Forster's three adult children are interested in continuing the business. Forster isn't actively seeking a buyer, but he would sell if the right situation came along.

What Forster faces is what's happening in his industry nationally. Shoe repair shops, which offer a range of services from re-soling shoes to repairing luggage, still are easily found across the Region and neighboring metropolitan Chicago. But their numbers steadily have dwindled with no sign of closures leveling off, according to the Maryland-based Shoe Service Institute of America.

The institute estimates there are around 6,000 shoe repair businesses operating in the country today, which is down from 10,000 in 2010. The institute believes repair shops have closed in droves in recent years because no one is coming forward to learn the craft.

As aging shop owners retire with either no heirs or new people to continue the business, industry observers wonder if the day will come when shoe repair shops will fade into memory.

Another concern to the institute is as more shoe repair shop operators retire and close their businesses, the skills developed by those cobblers through decades of work aren't taught to someone else and are forever lost.

"More than 90 percent of the time when a shop closes, the owner had been in business for 50, even 60 years and they just decide to call it quits," said Jim McFarland, vice president of the institute's board of directors and spokesman for the organization. "It's also come to no one wanting to learn the trade."

A family business

The institute's database lists 81 shoe repair shops in Indiana, which includes six in Northwest Indiana and 143 in Illinois, with 98 of those businesses either located in Chicago or its surrounding suburbs.

Shoe repair shops are commonly found in downtown locations, sometimes tucked between larger neighbors whose bigger-than-life signs may make it hard to spot a cobbler's storefront. Other locations are nestled in strip malls, sometimes near other high-traffic businesses from restaurants to dry cleaners.

Emmanuel Hernandez's family found a great opportunity in Homewood, Illinois, about 10 years ago. His father, Victor, a native of Mexico, brought his experience in shoe repair to the U.S. and partnered with Emmanuel to acquire what is now Ridge Road Quality Shoe Repairing.

Many of the Hernandezes' customers initially were regulars of the former shop owner and still patronize the business today, but they've also attracted new business.

"We were fortunate that our location had operated as a shoe repair business for 35 years, so the community has always known this spot as a shoe repair shop," said Emmanuel Hernandez, 28, who learned how to fix shoes by watching his dad, then later taught himself how to repair and dye leather.

Emmanuel Hernandez also has a leather repair shop in the northwestern Chicago suburb of Bloomingdale. Other family members work in six other shoe repair businesses around the Chicago area.

Emmanuel said as long as his father continues to work, he will stay in the business, but is uncertain whether he will continue in the industry after his dad retires.

"I may want to try and do something else," he said. "In the meantime, as long as (dad's) here, I will be here with him."

Repeat business

Rob Feldt can't recall exactly how he found Nick's Shoe Repair in Hammond, but he's glad he did. When the handle broke on Feldt's well-worn leather bag he's used for work for more than 15 years, he took it to Nick's Shoe Repair hopeful it could be fixed.

"I think when the bag was new, it cost me around $300, and when I looked for a comparable bag now, they were going for $900," he said.

Feldt, an attorney in Hammond, has used the bag to transport case files and other work items. After a short time in the shop, the repaired bag was reunited with Feldt.

"(The shop) made me a new handle, and it only cost me $20."

Feldt said Nick's Shoe Repair's attention to detail and quality of work keeps him coming back. The owner of Nick's Shoe Repair declined to be interviewed for this story.

Highland's Forster said he's never had any unusual repair requests from customers, though recalls sewing an ear back on a teddy bear.

Through the years, Feldt said he's had many shoes repaired, refurbished and polished at Nick's Shoe Repair. He said some of the shoes he has purchased, including the designer line Florsheim, can cost $250 or more a pair.

"The quality shoes are the ones that last the longest, and you want them to stay looking good," Feldt said.

McFarland said costs to re-sole or re-heel a shoe likely will vary among stores, but it typically ranges between $50 and $65 for a partial or half sole repair, or $75 to replace an entire sole. Forster said he would charge around $60 to resole a pair of work boots and $40 for similar work on a pair of dress shoes.

McFarland said low-cost shoes have contributed to the downfall of shoe repair shops. He believes if people spent more time researching the benefits of good quality shoes, they'd realize a well-made pair can be resoled and repaired and provide years of use.

"People today just don't want to spend $300 or more on a good pair of shoes," he said.

Safe for now

McFarland, who also owns a shoe repair business in Lakeland, Florida, is teaching his son how to repair shoes, though he is uncertain whether his son will join him in the business.

"He'll be going to college soon, so it will be up to him what he wants to do," said McFarland, who can trace back his family's shoe repair roots to his grandfather who started in the business in Anderson, outside Indianapolis 99 years ago.

McFarland said shoe repair shop owners are eager to preserve the craft for future generations. He said a cobbler just entering the field may earn $15 an hour, but depending on a person's skill set and a shop's volume, pay may reach $18 an hour with the potential for more.

The issue today is few, if any, people, especially those with good hand skills, want to learn how to fix shoes.

"It can take three to five years to really train someone well," McFarland said.

Forster, who turns 66 in October, said it does take time to properly train someone, but a skilled individual would pick it up quickly.

"It's not too difficult and with a little imagination, you can make something look new again," he said.

McFarland said shoe repair shop closures continue but may be slowing as some shops have passed on to new owners, mostly to people in their 50s. He is uncertain whether the industry will stabilize or if shoe repair shops eventually will just disappear.

"There really is a low percentage of people under age 40 working in this business," McFarland said. "One of the most common questions I hear at our annual convention is, 'Do you know anyone who wants a job because I'm hiring.'"

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Source: The (Northwest Indiana) Times

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Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com