When you tell somebody you fix shoes, it's almost like you do magic.

You become that guy and you go to a party.

You go to a meeting.

Next thing you know, they're up in their bedroom and they're pulling down the shoes that they had from high school, and they never wanted to throw these away.

But I didn't know where to go and like they met me and they think it's fate.

That's what's even better, having an old pair of shoes that you can take and build more memories with.

So Mario and I were high school sweethearts.

We met early on, I think, gosh, before my freshman year of high school, that summer before.

And, I really wasn't even allowed to date yet.

He was allowed to come over.

My dad noticed that he was just a really hard worker, you know, and he would have him helping him in the yard.

And he really liked him.

They were very similar.

So my dad approached my mom and dad approached me to see if it was okay if they asked him.

My dad needed help at his shoe repair shop.

So they thought, you know, this may be a really good opportunity for Mario.

I remember walking into the shop and it was shoes everywhere.

I mean, it just like you're looking along the wall, youre looking on the ground, theres shoes.

It looked like a morgue of shoes.

Yeah.

Like, yeah.

You never seen so many shoes in one place, other than in a shoe store.

He brings me back to the shoe finish area, and he goes, “This is what you're going to be doing.” Shining, you're going to start off just shining shoes.

He gives me this brown loafer and he goes, you know, this is what you do.

Put his hand in the shoe.

So I take the shoe and I almost touch it real.

Like I didn't want to get my hands dirty, you know?

It was just weird.

Like, what do I do with the shoe?

I want to ruin the guy's shoe.

He said, “No.

Put your hand in the shoe.” I said, “Put my hand in the shoe?” He said, “Yeah.” And then hes showing me what to do.

I come look in at first to see if it was clean, and then I put it in like I know my hand would probably be in the shoe for the rest of my life.

Yeah.

Next thing you know, it's just you just got used to it.

Multiple friends tried to talk me out of it.

My school counselor tried to talk me out of it.

I remember having a meeting, and he goes.

He's looking at my classes set up for my senior year and what I needed to get in the college, and I said, I'm not going to go to college.

And what?

Yeah, what are you going to do?

And I said, I'm going to be a shoe repair man.

I'm going to I want to have my own business one day to fix shoes.

He goes, “Mario, you need, you need a backup plan.

You need alternative.

And it's.

And this is your last shot.

I just wanted to make sure you, you're happy with what you're doing.” I said “No, I'm.

I'm good.” When Mario told me he wanted to do this for a living, I was thrilled.

This is all I knew.

You know, my dad did it.

He was making a great living.

He, you know, was a great dad, great husband and I was all for it.

And when he said he wanted to open his own shop, I just supported him.

And I thought it was going to be great.

And it has been great.

I love working at that shop and I never saw me really anywhere else.

But I didn't see me being an employee for the rest of my life.

I wanted to be my own man.

But you, you you saw how well he ran his.

So I could do this.

You know, I've been doing it for about seven years.

He said, “Well, where do you want to go?” I said “I want to go to Sewickley.” And he just fell.

And he was so supportive from the very beginning.

He said “Nah, you got to go to Sewickley this is he's like, I never knew this town was here.

I never knew this.

This existed like this, this little village, a little town.” He says.

“This is I think you're going to do fantastic.” He was very helpful, helping me acquire machines and the whole process.

Like just this is what you're going to need.

This is what you do.

And yeah, because he opened up and he knew he knew what it was like.

And his his nephew was opening up his own shop a few years prior of me leaving.

So I saw him venture off and I felt like I could do the same.

So everything's going as planned.

Perfect.

I got one week before I open up.

I get a phone call from my wife, and, I can, I I know exactly what I was saying, so bizarre.

So where she said, “Hey, what's going on?

What are you, How late are you going to work?” And I'm almost done.

So well I have a, uh, you won't believe this.

I said, “What?” She said, “I'm pregnant.” And I said, “What?” I said, “How did this happen?” “How did this happen?” So it was so overwhelming.

I was like, I just leaned back on the wall, you know?

And I remember looking looking up and looking around at the, the everything's empty all these years.

And I said, wow.

Yeah.

I said, well, we're going to do it now.

And, and it was, it was just, it was, it was all, all new, new the whole new life for me.

Yeah.

I was going on to my own shop.

I was starting my own family.

So yeah, it was, sink or swim time.

You know, the 20 some years I've been here now, it's hard not to see the change.

What stays the same.

But the change stands out to me.

I remember a lot of these homes had been refurbished.

These, Victorians had been completely redone, which, they were.

They were nothing what they look like now.

And, people haven't been here that long.

They think these stores have been here forever.

And it has endured.

A lot of them are fairly new, newer.

But Im the old timer now, and my store, this was the only, empty store front 27 years ago.

I love that space.

I love coming to work because I don't know who I'm going to see.

Sometimes I'll be brushing my teeth, getting ready, and I wonder who's going to come in.

And I might think of that customer and, you won't believe they come in.

It is a, you are like in sync.

Tom will come in and I'll say, you know, I thought of you today and they don't believe me.

I actually was thinking of you today.

I can't believe you're walking now.

I haven't seen you, like, six months.

How's everything going?

You love that interaction.

You know, you meet Lou, you meet, Perry, you meet Paul, Tammy, Sue, you meet these people, and you're part of their lives.

You know, I'm closer to most of my customers than I am with my my my siblings.

You know, you just, you see them more, and you just.

It's a family away from family.

And if I didn't have that, that's what drives me every day to keep coming to work, interacting and and and being part of their lives.

Yeah.

Just just a fit.

You know, you can feel like a rock star when you're fixing this high-end and you're doing a Louis Vitton red bottom finish.

Yeah.

It's like, yeah, this is so sexy.

The customer loves it.

Everything is great.

And then you're you're fixing a shoe from target or, a brand that is lesser and you're like, are you, seriously?

You're walking in with a croc?

You know, you're like, Its demoralizing.

Like I. You know, sometimes you can fix them, sometimes you can't, and you want to just work on certain shoes.

Well that customer who has the Louis Vitton is actually the same person wearing the other shoe.

It's just they have different things in their closet.

There is times I have to say, Mario put the shoe down like he he literally takes every shoe.

He does any project he has here like beyond like it just he takes each repair to heart and yeah, they they have no clue sometimes what he really puts into it.

And you know, he probably mentioned sometimes things aren't done on time.

And he's, you know a one man show here.

So sometimes it's just difficult.

But if they knew how much he really cares and wants to get it done for them and have, you know, have everything perfect and ready exactly on time or, you know, and he definitely cares about every person, every repair Yeah.

Everything he does.

You have to fix the shoe to your own pride, you know.

So if the customer doesn't see it.

That's fine.

You know what I mean?

Its, its, its okay.

I don't you know?

I see this I see a little Miss Imperfection and that's just me.

I have to do it that way.

Its the best I can do.

And not saying somebody can't do it better.

I'm doing the best I can do.

I support Mario here at the shop by doing everything but the shoe repair.

I, you know, work the counter.

I wait on the customers for him.

I bring him lunch or he wouldn't eat.

I just make sure everything is running smoothly.

Whatever he needs me to do.

Sometimes I go to his wholesaler for him.

You know, I clean up for him.

I just make sure, you know, everything's organized and I pay the bills and whatever he needs, I just for that day, whatever he needs me to do, I do it.

But basically, I just am, you know, the counter girl.

Good morning.

How are you doing today?

Good.

How are you?

Good.

Oh.

Nice shoes.

Thank you.

Love these.

Lets see.

Looks like you need some heels.

Yes.

Okay.

What's your name?

Michelle.

Perfect.

We'll have these for you next Tuesday.

Okay?

Just keep this.

If I'm missing a family event or soccer games, all my kids play.

All three of my kids play, were great soccer players.

They played on Saturdays.

And I would miss these games.

And I was so jealous of the parents that were there.

And they would be texting me, Mario, you got to close the shop today, you got to come to the game.

Your son just scored and you would miss these and I know I'm never going to get it back, but it hurts missing those games.

Mario is such a hard worker.

Never complains about it.

He's so selfless and he really takes whatever he does to heart.

And it's been great.

But it's definitely hard time sometimes because he's not always home with us.

But they understand why.

You know, I understand why, but it's been great.

It's it's our life, you know?

Lots of customers when they get sick.

I think they see themselves in the future.

So they want to project themselves.

They'll say, I'm going to get my shoes fixed.

Makes them feel better.

Say, I'm going to get through this.

I'm going to be wearing these shoes.

I'm going to this event, I'm going to that wedding.

I'm going to be traveling.

I need these shoes.

And it's a it's it's a positive a way, I think, to, to look at things.

You become such a part of their lives and you hear about tragedy.

And it's, Yeah, it's we're family, you know, we're family.

They've gotten me through so many aspects of my life.

My son, my oldest son.

She could go there just like that.

My oldest son, when he was 12, he had a tumor behind his eye, and his eye was getting pushed out in his head.

And it was a it's obviously a stressful time in our lives.

We we take him to the doctors.

My wife took him to three different doctors.

They one that said he had pinkeye.

Another custom, another, doctor said it was is it measured his eyes.

Everything was fine.

Didn't see it.

Took him to a third doctor.

They saw it right away.

So my wife calls me.

And tells me about.

My son has a tumor.

She told me he had cancer.

It was the worst case scenario.

You know, I'm standing right there.

I just remember falling.

Can't believe it.

And I was drama.

I go straight to the dress shop next door, and there was some young girl down crying.

She's hugging me and I'm telling her what just happened.

I don't even know her.

And, so this time goes by six months.

He has a surgery, was in cancer.

Everything was fine.

But another customer comes in, I never his name's Ted.

I haven't seen him in years.

So he comes in, he goes, “Mario, I seen your name on a prayer list.” He goes, “Can I ask you, is everything okay?” I said, “I didnt even know.” People are praying.

For me, my son didn't know.

So I told him the whole spiel telling him about the situation.

My son, he still never said a word and I said, “We don't know what to do.” He goes, “Well Mario, just so you know, it's I fly children personally to a hospital in Philadelphia that specializes in tumors around the eye.” Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me?

Like.

I said, “Well.” He goes, “It's up to you.” “You decide what you want to do” And so Ill have to talk over my wife.

I said, my wife really likes his doctor, but I'm not sure about him.

So we didn't go his route.

But the blessing of it was this guy.

Ted saved my son's life.

There's no doubt he saved my son's life.

It got the ball rolling and we went back to the doctor.

The tumor was growing again.

We didn't know.

He goes in for surgery.

It was extensive.

It was aggressive.

He.

He got a craniotomy.

They removed the the the orbital bone, restructured them.

It was my customers.

I had, Debbie and Judy through that time.

I was sharing this with customers.

Everybody they were they were offering to open up my shop.

The community here just were amazing, you know, just checking in on him, checking in on us.

And just so understanding it was beyond anything you can imagine.

So it was that was just amazing.

It really helped us through it.

And just advice people would give us or, you know, connections to doctors and just all the parallels were just it was just amazing, you know.

I still have his ticket on that wall.

Its faded.

I still and I will reach out to him every now and then say, “Hey, Ted, I still want to thank you.” I don't see him much as a customer.

He's retired, you know, but I'll reach out to him and say, “You saved my,” If if we did not go back to the doctor, if we would have waited that year to the fall.

for the fallout, there's no doubt in my mind that tumor would have reached my son's brain or, dramatically affected his life forever.

He's a healthy young man.

You would never know.

He went to continue to play soccer.

Everything else.

But, those my customers.

I'm forever grateful.

Got me through that.

God worked through them to help us.

It was.

It was amazing.

And that's what this shop is to him.

To us.

It's just.

It's more than just shoe repair for sure.

Hey, Dan, how you been?

What's going on?

What's going on?

Good to see you.

Yeah.

Hey, they're not going to call you squeaky Dan.

I working for sure.

Yeah, you got it.

I think I got the squeak.

It's all done.

That's beautiful.

We, took the midsole open, replace the cork bed.

I think you were getting that chafing from the midsole to the outsole.

Like I said.

Okay.

They don't.

Sometimes they skimp on the glue a little bit, then it's stitched down.

It's solid.

This was the squeaker.

Yeah.

No, I think it, it turned out real nice.

I hope they realize they mean more to me than just to the repair.

You know that I really am.

I do care about how people perceive me.

And, like, I'm doing my best.

I get angry sometimes.

I say the wrong thing that's happened.

You know, obviously nothing's perfect, but, I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my best.

I hope that comes across with with the customer today and that I don't take them for granted.

I appreciate them, I do, I really do love them as, as as people.

And I hope that comes across.

I think the next phase of our life now that our kids are grown, you know, our daughter will be graduating college.

I tell him all the time, I do want him to slow down like he takes the shop.

His customers, all of it like to heart.

Like he puts everything into whatever he does.

He's just that person.

Whatever he he does, he puts 100% in 110%, you know?

So for me, that's the only thing I wouldnt say change.

But moving forward, I hope we have more time.

And he has more time and he can start saying no to some of those things and put himself first.

Being 50 years old, if I was going to start all over again.

Turnkey, right now.

A little cubbyhole somewhere low rent.

No one's seeing you and you're just fixing shoes and you're doing, mailing.

Yeah, that's probably be the most successful be smart business wise, but I won't be happy.

So I don't know what I would do.

I'm really.

I'm torn, like I do.

Do I drive myself, do, I go, I, don't do a lot of social media.

I don't do it for that.

I don't do it.

Yeah.

I mean, shoes are done if you take a picture like it never existed.

I did those.

Yeah, but it'd be empty.

It would be and I would be, I would I never met Ted.

I never would say you got my son saved.

I know that much.

How would that happen?

I've wouldnt have been on no prayer list.

No one been praying for me.

How would that happen?

How are you going to meet people?

The world is scary in that aspect It's like this.

This evolution of that.

It's it won't be depressing, but we're finding a way.

We're going to survive.

Im not going nowhere.