Rogers shoemaker ends 70-year career

35 years after first crack at retirement, 93-year-old passes shop to nephew

ROGERS — Worn linoleum reveals the original wood floor marking the winding path Carl Walter took around machinery and tools in his shoe repair shop for more than 30 years.

Walter, 93, moved to a house by Beaver Lake in 1980 to retire after running a shoe repair shop in Kansas since 1945.

Retirement didn’t last long. Walter’s Shoe Repair opened the same year in downtown Rogers.

“I don’t like retirement,” Walter said. “You do nothing. If you are working, you are doing some good.”

Several hearing aids later, and his wife’s recent hip injury, Walter is finding himself in retirement once again.

“I was doing good until 90,” Walter said. “At 90, we started running from one doctor to another.”

“Doing good” for Walter meant fixing people’s shoes for half the price it could cost to replace them. This meant working from 7 a.m. to midnight with short breaks for lunch and dinner for many years. He cut back to 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in recent years.

Shoe repair is a family trade. Walter learned from his uncle Henry, who opened his first shop in Kansas in 1905. Walter’s nephew, Aaron Walter, moved to Rogers last week to take over the Rogers shop.

Sitting at his dining room table in a crisp plaid shirt, looking out at Beaver Lake, Carl Walter’s eyes light up, and a smile spreads across his face as he says: “I taught my brother, and this is his boy. I sold him the building.”

Aaron Walter said he learned the trade from his father, who continues to run a shoe repair shop in Long Beach, Calif.

“My folks would slide a bench up and I would start pulling nails out of heels at 5 years old,” he said. “I have done other things, but I have always come back to this trade.”

Vintage repair equipment lines a wall of Walter’s shop. The shop has been temporarily closed as Aaron renovated it.

Carl Walter said he has seen a lot of changes in the shoe repair industry throughout the years.

“The biggest change was in the early 2000s,” Walter said. “China came in. China didn’t sew the soles on shoes.”

Glued-on soles caused a crisis in the shoe repair business, he said.

“We had 32 shops in the area from Fort Smith to Joplin,” Walter said. “Twenty-two shops closed over just a few years. It bankrupted them.”

A slow shift in demand for quality shoes has started, Walter said. Few shoemakers manufacture shoes in the United States anymore, he said.

Yet some countries such as India, Brazil and Italy are making more quality shoes.

Aaron said he believes shoe repair is still a viable career.

“There are plenty of throw-away shoes,” Aaron said. “A high-quality shoe can last a lifetime.”

Aaron said a steady stream of customers has been stopping by the business this week. They are quick to ask about his uncle, often concerned, he said.

“He is very recognizable,” Aaron said.

“Everyone knows him. It is an amazing legacy that he leaves behind. I hope to build upon it.”

John Mack, JKJ Architects firm principal, works above Walter’s Shoe Repair. Mack said he has been taking shoes to the shop for about 30 years.

“Carl did great work,” Mack said. “You had to allow some extra time because there also was great conversation.”

Walter’s craftsmanship was impressive, Mack said.

“He took a lot of pride in it,” Mack said.

Walter said his customers in Kansas and in Rogers have always been “first class.”

“We want to put an advertisement up soon and thank them for all their service,” Walter said.