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Shoe business is a hands-on affair Messinger's repair shop is in its 2nd generation on Medford's Main Street By VICKI GUARINO Randy Geroux's business keeps customers on their feet. Photo by Steve Johnson Randy Geroux resoles a pair of cowboy boots at his shop, Messinger's Shoe Repair. Business Card Company name : Messinger's Shoe Repair Product/service : Repairing shoes, luggage and other leather and canvas goods Location : 221 E. Main St., inside Norris Shoes Phone number : 772-9115 Hours : 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday Owners : Randy and Terri Geroux At Messinger's Shoe Repair, owner Geroux patches holes and stitches pulled seams on a parade of well-worn shoes and boots. As he works, Geroux is following family footsteps. Father-in-law G. E. Messinger opened the shop 30 years ago, after moving here from North Dakota. Before him, his father fixed shoes. As the years have passed, leather has given way to plastic, comfort and durability overtaken by fashion and price. But the basic economics of the business endure, Geroux says: It can be cheaper to fix than buy new. Instead of thread, Geroux might have to reach for some new-formula glue to get the job done now, but even today's molded plastic shoes can be fixed. Yet shoppers discarding old for new might not know that. "It comes down to educating people; people don't realize things can be repaired," he says. In modern parlance, think of shoe repair as recycling, he suggests. Shoe repairmen are some of the original recyclers, practicing the trade long before it became politically correct. Regardless of the fashion or the economic times, Geroux can count on a steady flow of customers. "People get their shoes fixed in good times and bad times. I never have to worry about work coming through the door," he says. Customers find him despite his low-profile operation at the back of the Norris Shoes store in downtown Medford. High quality shoes are worth the work and price of repair at any time. In lean times, repairs that save money are particularly significant. The business has gone through some changes, however. For instance, after many local timber products companies closed, reducing both heavy manufacturing and logging jobs, the number of boot repairs fell off. "But then the wives had to go to work," Geroux says. So he started seeing more women's shoes, along with more lighter weight men's shoes. "But I still do logging boots because people are still out in the woods," he says. Boot repairs are among the most expensive. The bill can come to as much as $100 _ a bargain considering replacements cost $400. At the other end of the price scale, a new heel piece might cost just a couple of dollars. Geroux says his customers are hard to categorize. He figures he has as many women as men coming in, and young customers as well as elderly. For the older folks _ children of the Depression _ fixing rather than discarding is more of a habit, perhaps. But younger customers are more likely to feel the need to stretch their dollar. One significant change has been the growth of customized shoes for orthopedic needs. "More people seem to be having operations, and they don't always put people back together the same way," Geroux says. He is getting more referrals and prescriptions from doctors for special shoe lifts, cants and braces. He also works with customers to create shoe alterations that ease pain and improve movement. To solve such problems, Geroux relies on the expertise of his own experience. He began training under his father-in-law in 1984. He says he was drawn to the business because it was profitable, dependable, and fulfilled his ambition to run his own business. He took over the shop when Messinger retired in 1991, and kept the original name. Although the basic skills of shoe and leather repair can be learned in weeks or months, years of mentoring are needed to be prepared for the variety of repair needs that come through the shop door, he says. After 16 years at the cobbler's bench, however, Geroux says he's seldom at a loss for a way to mend or patch. He has a different sort of challenge these days: "The hardest thing is managing the time to make what I do efficient." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA