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    Home Archives Bradford's sole shoe repair shop to close for good
    Bradford’s sole shoe repair shop to close for good
    Archives
    December 6, 2005

    Bradford’s sole shoe repair shop to close for good

    By JASON BURT

    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.

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