Shoe Repair

For $75,000 to $125,000, you, too, could get your foot in the door of the instant shoe repair business. Entrepreneur Magazine named shoe repair franchises “Opportunity of the Month� last December, and even the shoe chains that do not now have independently owned franchises are eagerly eyeing the possibility.

Moneysworth and Best, a Canadian firm, is by far the largest of the North American shoe repair franchise chains, with 80 outlets in Canada and eight operating and 15 under construction in the United States.

Moneysworth and Best President Rick VanSant said a good shopping mall location is the key to a successful franchise. High quality work is also important, and VanSant maintained that even those with no background in shoe making can learn in six weeks.

“Our franchisees have often been through another business career, most have college degrees, and they are very aggressive sales-and-service oriented people,� he said. Typical annual sales for a store are $250,000, VanSant said, and they operate at an 80%-82% gross margin. Revenues for the parent company are about $15 million, he added.

Before World War II, there were 65,000 shoe repair shops in the United States, according to Roger Ehrlich, president of Shoe Doctor, but now there are just 10,000 to 18,000, depending on the estimate.

“The biggest problem for shoe repair is cheap imported shoes,� says George McPherson, whose family company, McPherson Leather, has sold products to shoe repair shops in California for 62 years. “A lot of them are not repairable, and if they are it doesn’t pay to have them fixed.�

Another problem, McPherson and others said, is that people don’t walk as much anymore, and therefore don’t wear out their shoes. That problem is especially acute in Los Angeles.

Changing the nature of America’s “throw-away� society or coaxing people out of their beloved autos is a tall order for a fragmented, $1-billion-a-year industry. Instead, industry leaders, through the pages of Shoe Service magazine, are exhorting cobblers to take a more aggressive, marketing-oriented approach.

Ambitious shoe repair entrepreneurs are looking to enhance their businesses with new services that were never before part of the business.

Special protective soles, which can be glued on to any shoes in minutes, are a big seller, according to Shoe Wiz President Scott Adler, as is “heat stretching� of shoes that are too small.

And the sale of shoe paraphernalia, from shoe trees to shoe laces to heel protectors, is also becoming a much more important part of the business for many shops, according to Jeff Montgomery, administrator at the Shoe Services Institute of America.

But instant shoe repair shops cannot tap the specialty service markets that have long been a mainstay for many traditional shoe repairmen: shoe dyeing and fixing handbags, suitcases and other leather goods. Few instant shops dare to attempt such an array of services.