The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Making a footprint
Success of leather and shoe repair shops can be traced back to owner’s childhood
Carlos Gomez learned to work with leather as a boy in the town of Gualaceo, near Cuencas in southwest Ecuador. It’s a town where almost everyone works to make shoes, boots, purses, luggage and other quality leather items — and where visitors come there to buy them.
“I worked there with my dad all while I was growing up, and now when my father comes to visit he works in my shop,” Gomez said.
Gomez came to America in 1990 and settled in New York City, where he worked at several shoe and leather repair shops, fine-tuning his craft. He even can make shoes from scratch, taking measurements to accommodate the bunions, high insteps and other eccentricities of the human foot.
“I’ve been a U.S. citizen for 15 years now,” he said. “I love this country. I work very hard, but I’ve had many good opportunities.”
His wife is also a U.S. citizen, and their three children are citizens because they all were born here.
Gomez worked diligently to learn English — something he considers a sign of respect for the country.
“If you want to do something in this country, you can do it,” he said. “You need to love what you do, work hard and pay your taxes. It’s not like that everywhere.”
He now owns shoe and luggage repair shops in Solon, Lyndhurst, the Coventry neighborhood of Cleveland Heights, downtown in The Arcade Cleveland and Mentor, which is his newest shop. It opened in November 2015, at 7541 Mentor Ave., and already has a loyal clientele.
He has a half-dozen employees, and his family members work in the stores.
“I go to each shop every day,” he said. “It’s a lot of driving, but it’s important for me to do that to keep the quality of our work consistent.”
He and his wife like Mentor and would like to buy a home there.
His son, Charles, is 16 and following in his father’s footsteps in the leather profession. A brother, who also came to America, has his own shoe-repair shop in Parma.
“My wife, Elsa, has become an expert at repairing handbags,” he said. “Women pay good money for Prada, Gucci and Coach handbags and expect them to last many years.”
Step into the workroom behind the counter and you’ll see machines that look like medieval torture devices. But for the most part, they’re sewing machines that work with leather.
He’s able to complete many repairs in a few hours.
“They don’t make shoes like they used to,” he said, showing a shoe with a cardboard base beneath its sole. “But people grow fond of their shoes and boots and want them repaired instead of replacing them.”
This time of year he’s doing a brisk business in repairing and cleaning up UGGs, the popular Australian-made winter boot. He also repairs and conditions leather jackets.
Gomez’ shops are known for their orthopedic work. He’s able to restructure shoes for people who have one leg longer than the other and other foot problems.
One customer, an attorney, had Gomez make her a pair of shoes. Until then she had to go to court wearing sandals because she couldn’t find another “Those first shoes cost her $900 because I had to make the form, or last, by hand, and it took many hours and fittings,” Gomez said. “But now I have the last that fits her foot, so the next shoes I make for her will cost maybe $300.”
The customer was so delighted with the resulting shoes that she was close to tears, he said.
On his workbench are several pairs of what appear to be brand-new women’s boots.
“They were Christmas gifts that didn’t fit the women’s calves,” he said. “I’m making the calves bigger.”
He also has a device that helps to adjust shoes to bunions — those bony protrusions next to the big toe that torment many people.
“I love my work,” he said. “I help people be happy with their shoes.”
He returns to Ecuador every few years to visit family. The weather there is always pleasantly spring-like because, although it’s near the equator it’s also at high altitude in the Andes. Other villages near his hometown also have their specialties, including creations from clay and textiles.
“My aunts made Panama hats for many years,” he said. Many people don’t realize that the genuine handcrafted Panama hat comes from Ecuador, not Panama.