Shoe sales are rising faster than stock prices during this booming economy. But the good times aren't great for the shoe repair business.
That's because fewer people bother to get that hole in their sole patched when they have dollars in their pocket and extra pressure to follow fashion trends.
Mark Builder, manager of Red Wing Shoe and Repair in Oxnard, which sells work shoes and boots, said his shoe repair business dips when sales of new shoes soar. And these days retail is flying high.
"People are spending money and they think for $150 they can get a new pair of shoes," he said. "They don't want to sink $40 into an old pair."
He has managed to stay afloat, Builder said, because his services include sales of new shoes. Also, Red Wing caters to a clientele that does not slavishly follow fashion trends, he said.
The construction workers, welders, hikers and patrol officers who buy the shoes may shell out a hefty sum up front but they get comfort and durability in return, Builder said. They are more likely to repair the shoes instead of replacing them when they begin to wear, he said.
"The younger crowd is taught to think that style is more important than function," he said. Platform shoes popular with teens and young women "are not going to be repaired because they are made to be expendable."
Those thick soles pose another problem for cobblers, according to Jack Kardyan, owner of Benton Shoe Repair in Simi Valley. Even if the shoe is expensive, the sole is so thick it takes years to wear out.
So repairing them is not even considered.
"Those tiny rubber heels from the 1980s wouldn't last very long, and we were always replacing them. Then the style changed to big heels and the distance along the bottom is so wide it really lasts," he said.
Keri Quinn, assistant manager for Lady Footlocker at Pacific View Mall in Ventura, said the athletic shoes in her store are made to last between four and six months. And, she added, she would never consider resoling a pair of her own shoes.
"I try to buy a new pair every three months," she said.
Ken Myers, owner of K & J Shoe Repair in Ventura, said he believes the industry's downturn is due to too many shoes being made inexpensively abroad.
"Nothing is made here--it's all cheap shoes from China or Brazil, and they are not worth repairing," he said. "You wear them until they wear out."
