Cobbler keeps on despite less work

Mar. 4, 2007
By JOSEPH M. DELEON News-Post Staff
jdeleon@fredericknewspost.com

FREDERICK — Entering John Garner's shoe repair shop on North Market Street is like stepping back in time.
     Wood and metal shelves line Quality Shoe Repair, holding customer's shoes, tools and supplies. Wooden shoe lasts, foot-shaped inserts used to hold shoes in place during repairs, rest on the floor and hang from walls.
     A black stitcher, resembling an oversized antique sewing machine, dominates a wall behind the counter. Garner pumps the foot pedal and occasionally turns a hand pulley to drive the needle through leather.
     One of the few things that's changed in the shop are shoe fashions, but even the construction of newer shoes differs little from those made 50 years ago.
     Back then, Garner didn't pay much attention to the fam ily business.
     “I guess I really didn't know very much about it, but I can remember thinking it was pretty cool that my dad fixed shoes,” he said. “We all need shoes.”
     As a teen, Garner grew to appreciate the flexibility owning a business gave his dad. It appealed to him so much he became his dad's apprentice.
     After three years, Garner had enough.
     “We didn't really get along at that time being a teenager,” he said. “He was always in my face and then I'd have to go home with him.”
     Over the next six years he attended Catonsville Community College, got married, dropped out of college and worked for some of his dad's competitors.
     He also handled six pick-up spots — dry cleaners that offered shoe repair. Garner picked up the shoes, did the work at night in his dad's shop, then delivered the shoes back to the cleaners.
     Working more than 80 hours a week got old after about a year. That's when he bought the business he's run for the past 29 years.
     “I instantly made three times the money, worked fewer hours and became my own boss,” he said. “The previous owner said I'd make a lot of money, and he was right.”
     In the 1980s, Garner's business hit its peak.
     “I remember tearing my hair out trying to keep up with the work,” he said. “But it really hasn't been the same since.”
     Fewer people take their shoes for repairs, preferring to simply buy a new pair. Others only wear sneakers, which Garner doesn't work on.
     His father and grandfather worked in the shoe repair business, but Garner doesn't believe his son will continue the tradition. There's simply not enough business.
     Garner accepts that.
     “I don't think about it a lot, but I'm OK with that,” he said. “If I can do this for another 10 years, I'll be as happy as a lark.”