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Zippers keep shoe shop going |
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By Jamie Ziemer
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Tuesday, 30 January 2007 |
 | John’s Shoe Repair has seen it all – luggage, lawn mower bags, saddle bags, even body bags While the days may look bleak for shoe repair businesses, John’s Shoe Repair’s future still looks bright. |
Owner Todd Anderson has watched industry conditions the past 36 years and knows from experience what it takes to stay ahead of the game.
The Fargo native moved to Sioux Falls in 1988 with his wife, Connie, and daughter, Madison, to buy John’s Shoe Repair. The business has been around since 1921 and had three previous owners and three locations in that time.
Anderson learned the shoe repair trade firsthand by working at his father’s business in Fargo beginning at age 10. There, a shoe salesman mentioned to Anderson there was a repair business for sale in Sioux Falls.
The previous owner was forced to put the business up for sale after having a heart attack. When Anderson decided to pursue the opportunity, he took a harder look at Sioux Falls than he did the repair shop. He wanted to know if the city had the potential to sustain the business.
The city obviously passed the test.
When Anderson purchased the shop, it was on Phillips Avenue. He later moved the business across the street. Then after parking became a problem at the downtown location, Anderson moved the business again to its current location at 1820 W. 41st St.
For a year, he kept both locations open until it become too difficult to manage.
“It was too hard to get people in two places at once,” Anderson said of staffing issues. “It’s so hard to get people in this business.”
Sioux Falls was an ideal place to open his business because he could make it work with only one location. In Fargo, where the city is more spread out, two stores would be needed, he said.
“I thought this was a prime location for us,” he said of his spot on 41st Street.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, Anderson’s wife goes to stores at the malls to picks up shoes under warranty that are in need of repair.
While John’s is about shoe repair, it isn’t the biggest part of Anderson’s business.
“Our zipper business is huge,” he said. The business does 20 to 30 zippers a day.
Originally, that wasn’t the case.
“I wanted to diversify. I don’t think the shoe business is very bright,” Anderson said. “I’ve seen it coming the last 10 years.”
Fall is the busiest time of year for shoe repair, and the other months can be slow, a fact he learned from his father and brother’s business that doesn’t replace zippers.
“Everyone gets serious and digs out the dress shoes,” he said.
At his father’s business many years ago, they saw about 30 pairs of shoes come in a day. Now it’s about 10 pairs a day for Anderson.
The marquee below the business’ sign hasn’t changed its message for seven years: We replace zippers.
Even though Anderson gets teased about it, he doesn’t plan to change the message anytime soon. Every week he has new customers come in because of the sign.
“We’re really going to make an effort to get some sewing help,” he said.
However, he has found that sewers don’t like to replace zippers.
One growing demand is in luggage zipper repairs. Customers have even brought in lawn mower bags and saddle bags. The most unusual, though, are body bags from a local funeral home. They also sew biker-jacket patches.
“If they can’t find someone to fix it, they bring it here,” he said.
Scheels is one of the biggest customers for zippers. The store sends its warranty items to John’s Shoe Repair for zipper replacements on its Columbia jackets. Sioux City’s Scheels also ships jackets to the business.
Mike Welu, Scheels’ manager in Sioux Falls, said the company has a choice to either send them back to Columbia or have them repaired locally.
“The customer gets the same work done in a quicker time frame by doing it in town,” he said.
Having the zippers repaired locally also saves the company money, he said.
“We send them quite a few,” he said.
About 30 to 40 a week to be exact.
Anderson said if he can find more help, he plans to do the same thing for the Fargo store.
“It’s tough to find people that take pride in their work and want to do a good job,” he said.
His business has six employees.
Anderson won the Grand Silver Cup in 1990 for his work and was recognized as the grand champion shoe repairman in the United States and Canada. Anderson was judged on how well he could restore pairs of women’s and men’s shoes to factory quality.
While good help is getting harder to find, shoe repair shops are too. Quality materials still are used for shoes, but they’re being made by cheap labor overseas, which holds down costs.
Anderson said that causes profit margins to shrink because it can be more cost-efficient to buy a new pair of shoes than repair a pair.
The shop has been able to stay ahead by increasing its volume, he said, even though it means he has to work 70 hours a week.
“So far we’ve been able to stay ahead of it,” Anderson said. “Our shop is an extremely busy shop compared to the U.S.”
John’s Shoe Repair doesn’t do any advertising.
JCPenny Co. occasionally will refer customers there. Barbara White, JCPenny’s store manager, said John’s comes in handy at the end of seasons when a product can’t be replaced with a new item.
But JCPenny referrals are mainly for repairs of leather goods because the company does its own repairs and alterations on other items.
The John’s shoe repair file
Owners: Todd and Connie Anderson
Founded: 1921
Location: 1820 W. 41st St.
What it does: Shoe and zipper repairs
Employees: 6 |
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