LOOKING BACK AT A WELL-WORN CAREER
Downtown Eustis shoe repairman, 86, fixes last heel of his incredible 67-year run
EUSTIS — Customers felt as comfortable as an old shoe at Robert Dunston’s cluttered shop, where they could always count on a cheerful greeting to go with quality service.
The 86-year-old practiced a trade he learned as a child: reviving worn-out footwear. But he quietly stitched up his last boot recently at Dunston’s Shoe Hospital, capping an extraordinary 67-year run at his downtown shop to care for his wife.
“I just miss being around people, cutting the fool and having fun with those that come by,” said Dunston, who started repairing shoes after finishing the sixth grade at a shop around the corner from his longtime spot on Eustis Street. He honed his skills working after school through the 12th grade.
He was thrilled to sell to a couple who’ll carry on in a dying trade that has seen the number of shoe repair shops dwindle to about 5,000 today from 7,500 in 2005 and 15,000 in the mid-1990s.
The drop is even more precipitous compared to the Great Depression,
when there were 120,000 shoe-repair businesses, and the 1940s, when there were still 63,000, according to Jim McFarland, president of the Wheaton, Illinoisbased Shoe Service Institute of America.
“I expect it probably will continue to decline for a little while,” said McFarland, a 55-year-old third-generation shoe repairman in Lakeland. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see it as low as 3,500 in 10 years.”
One cause for the decline, he said, is that children of shoe repairmen are less likely today to want to carry on a family tradition. The challenge is convincing more young people that repairing shoes — and other leather goods — can be a ticket to a good life.
The lack of repairmen doesn’t mean that people aren’t getting their shoes fixed, McFarland said. But because there are so few of them, repairs often can’t be completed for several weeks or even months, he said.
Orlando shoe repairman Jorge Mosquera, 66, agrees with McFarland’s assessment of the trade.
“I have a lot of work,” said Mosquera, who since 2011 has operated Giovanny’s Shoe Repair & Orthopedics on Michigan Street, which is among at least a couple dozen shoe repair shops in Central Florida.
His two daughters don’t fix shoes — they’re in the medical field. He said he hopes his part-time helper will take over the shop when he’s ready to call it quits in four or five years.
“The young people, they don’t want to do this,” said Mosquera, who came to Orlando from Colombia in 1992.
Shoe repairmen also fix a lot of other things people bring in — something Tim Desabrais, who took over Dunston’s shop, said is crucial.
That includes belts, handbags, holsters, sheaths, chaps, tack, saddles and baseball gloves — “anything made of leather,” said Desabrais, 58, who renamed the business Eustis Shoe & Leather Repair and operates it with his wife, Kim, 57. They closed on the purchase Nov. 20.
Tim Desabrais has been repairing shoes, and other stuff, for 38 years, starting in Connecticut. He also works for All About Feet, a business near The Villages retirement haven that sells and repairs shoes.
“I do more dance shoes up in The Villages than I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
He may not repair as many dance shoes in Eustis, but he said Dunston has a proven location and a clientele built up over decades that he hopes to continue to serve.
Dunston, who usually could be seen with a twinkle in his eye and a toothpick in his mouth, admitted to going at a slower pace in recent years. He was known to rest his aching body by the window and put up his feet, often nodding off.
But day in and day out, for decade after decade, he could be found at Dunston’s Shoe Hospital, which he renamed after purchasing Moore’s Shoe Hospital in 1976. He had worked in that location since 1952, except for two years when he served in the Army.
In a 2017 interview, he said he had no desire to retire. But recently he said needed to be home more to help his 81-year-old wife, Dorothy, who has mobility issues, so he finally decided to call it a career.
Dunston — who three years ago was honored during the Lake County city’s annual signature event as Eustis Georgefest king — put away his tools for good and bowed out without fanfare.
Retirement has been an adjustment for Dunston, who said he sometimes dreams he’s repairing shoes. He’s happy when he wakes up and realizes he’s not back at the shop.
Instead, he’s got more time to devote to his wife of 64 years and their three daughters, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
“I can sit back and kind of relax. I don’t have to get up in the morning, be rushing and all,” he said. “Some mornings I sit here and be lazy.”