The man who has been the heart and sole of the last known shoe
repair shop in Bradford will retire at the end of the year, and his
shop will close for good.

Bradford resident Gene DeFrank, owner of Lou’s Shoe Repair, will
leave shop at 19 Congress St. on Dec. 29.

“I’m 69 years old,” DeFrank said, explaining that his age was
the reason for his retirement.

DeFrank also said there’s not a lot of business for shoe repair
lately. DeFrank, who has worked in the business all of his life,
said with less expensive shoes, there’s not really a market for
shoe repair since people are more inclined to just buy new
shoes.

“There’s not enough business anymore, especially with cheaper
imports,” DeFrank said, adding at one time, there were up to seven
shoe repair shops in Bradford. “These kind of stores are closing
all over the country.”

Ironically, he said he’s had a lot of feedback since an ad was
printed in The Era announcing the closing. In fact, his business
has increased in the past few weeks.

DeFrank said the only shoe repair store that he knows of still
left in the area is Custom Shoe Repair in Olean, N.Y.

“We still have regular customers, but they have been dwindling
over the years,” DeFrank said.

DeFrank said he does mostly sole and heal work with some seam
repair and dog damage, too. He also said he does a lot of work on
horse harnesses and belts.

“We do some other work, like leather jackets and odds and ends,
like purses, but nothing that’s going to amount to anything,” he
said.

DeFrank said he’s not planning to continue the shoe repair
business under a different owner. He plans on selling the building
and disposing of the shoe repair machinery, some of which dates
back to 1930.

“It will be disposed of,” he said about the machinery. “Taken to
the junk yard I hope – if I can get it there.”

If someone was interested in buying some of the shoe repair
equipment, DeFrank said he would be willing to sell it, but that he
wants to be completely rid of it one way or the other by the end of
January.

DeFrank said he hasn’t had any offers for the building at the
moment, since he hasn’t really announced the store’s closing.

The shop has been around since 1938 when it opened as Lou’s Shoe
Repair. DeFrank said the business was always on Congress Street. He
said his father had it first, and it was originally next to
Beefeaters. The shop later moved to 17 Congress St. In 1950, his
father bought the building at 19 Congress St., and the repair shop
moved there, where it still is today.

DeFrank, who plans to return to his hobbies of model railroads
and reading, said he started working full-time in the shoe repair
business in 1954, and before that he had worked in the business
part-time for several years. He bought the business from his father
in 1960.

DeFrank said he couldn’t recall any interesting stories
throughout his years in the business.

“It’s very boring,” he said with a laugh. “Just plain work.”

DeFrank said the easiest shoe repair he had to do was a standard
welded shoe repair, and the hardest was the shoes made today with
molded synthetic material.

DeFrank had no suggestions for those interested in doing shoe
repair at home but said one should not try shoe repair without the
equipment.