Once in a great while, I find myself in the market for a cobbler, aka shoe repair shop. They do exist in my metro area, but they are indeed few and far between.

Once in a great while, I find myself in the market for a cobbler, aka shoe repair shop. They do exist in my metro area, but they are indeed few and far between. The extant ones are very old businesses and they're usually run by some old codger who won't be selling or handing on the business to a successor. The last shoe repair shop I used was very nice, had merchandise for me to purchase; I picked up a few aromatic cedar shoe trees, some polish and brushes, and had a couple pairs of shoes repaired very nicely. The owner was the only worker there and utterly overwhelmed; he gestured at his backlog which was immense. He cranked the 80s hair metal while he worked. There was supposed to be a shoe shine service, but no shoe shine boy to do it. He was kind to the homeless and passers-by, and people could sit and hang out in his store if they wanted. He was murdered by a homeless fellow while trying to be kind to him. The homeless guy had gone to use the bathroom, and found the owner's gun lying on the counter, and for some reason used it against the owner himself. I will really miss that owner and his store.