Cobbler nearly a sole survivor
It has been close to 40 years since Oamaru cobbler Glenn Gray entered the trade. Like many people have experienced, his current career was not the one he originally hoped to embark on. Daniel Birchfield found out more about him and what goes on at the rep
GLENN GRAY reckons it is just a matter of time before his trade ceases to exist. However, until then it is a good bet that you will see him continue to ply his trade at Cobbler Glenn’s in Thames St, at McDiarmids shoe store.
Originally from Christchurch, Mr Glenn had no plans to join the family business, Lion Shoe Service, founded by his grandfather in 1932 and based in Cashel St near the Bridge of Remembrance.
‘‘It was something I didn’t really want to go into,’’ he said.
‘‘I originally wanted to be a commercial fisherman. I left high school at an early age because I found a job as a commercial fisherman out of Lyttelton, working on a boat called the Lamer. I lasted there for a couple of years — I absolutely hated it.’’
It was after that his father, who took over the business in 1962, asked Mr Gray if he would be interested in working alongside him.
‘‘Dad approached me in the late 1970s and he said did you want to come on board. I was reluctant . . . but I said if you were desperate I will help you out until something else comes along. Forty years later, I’m still here.’’
He started his training in 1979 and gained his trade certificate in 1984.
He worked in Christchurch until 1998, when he decided to relocate to Oamaru.
His family remained in Christchurch for a couple of months until his property was sold and during that time, he set up shop at McDiarmids.
‘‘I don’t regret doing what I did. In fact, it was probably a blessing because of the earthquakes. If I was still there I probably wouldn’t have a business. I think it’d be gone, like so many others have.’’
The bulk of Mr Gray’s working day is spent ‘‘heeling or patching’’ footwear.
‘‘It can depend on the weather,’’ he said.
‘‘In the winter it’s mainly new zips because there’s a lot of boots, but my job really depends on the weather. If it’s raining and cold people get sick of wet feet. The wetter and colder it is, the better it is.’’
Over the years, Mr Gray has had some pretty strange and at times creative requests.
‘‘It’s made it interesting. I did alter a pair of lady’s footwear for a person that was doing the Rocky Horror Picture Show. He had a size 13 foot, so it wasn’t easy turing a ladies’ size 11 into a men’s size 13. But, it worked . . . he was over the moon and did the show.
‘‘Another time I put some lights in a pair of shoes for a clown, so that was interesting, too.’’
If you have ever visited Cobbler Glenn’s you may have noticed a shoe phone on the counter, similar to something Maxwell Smart might have used in classic television show Get Smart.
Mr Glenn’s version of the device also featured on television, just a little closer to home.
‘‘I did that job for Ben Rumble Communications. It was a phone for an ad he wanted to do on TV. I had Elgregoe the Magician, who was a friend of mine, give me the bits and pieces of an old phone and Hannahs supplied me with the shoe, so we created it for Ben Rumble. Ben
being the person he was, he only wanted it for one thing, then he returned it.’’
While he still had enough work coming in, he said cheaper, imported footwear meant his repair business was not as busy as it once was.
In fact, Mr Gray’s answer was an emphatic yes when asked if his trade would one day cease to exist.
While a lot of people were happy to spend a small amount on shoes more regularly, he said that was not always the best way to go considering there was a lot of ‘‘junky footwear’’ available today.
‘‘You’ll find in different towns, if you’ve got the likes of The Warehouse of No 1 (shoe warehouse), somewhere like that
that’s selling cheap shoes, you don’t get a lot of repairs. Then, of course, people after a while get sick and tired of paying $30 a month on a pair of shoes when they can buy a decent pair and get years out of them.
When it comes to the school footwear they’ll go to the likes of those stores and spend $25 on a pair of shoes and get three weeks out of them, then they’ll go back and buy another pair. That $25 soon adds up when you could buy a decent pair at $130 or $150.’’
Cobblers were a rare breed today and only a handful were still working, mostly in the South Island.
It was not a job people could train for these days, which meant no apprentices were coming through to fill the gaps that would eventually
be left in the trade.
Mr Gray said there was a big difference between the work done by a cobbler and that done by others.
‘‘There is a difference between a repairer and a Mr Minit. When I did the trade it was for footwear repairing and nothing else — not key cutting, not watch repairing.’’
As long as shoes needed to be repaired, he would continue to serve.
Mr Gray had no plans to retire, but would see what the future held when McDiarmids owner Grant McDiarmid finished up later this year.
‘‘We’ll just wait and see what’s going to happen.’’