While the concept of a drive-thru shoe repair business might be appealing to some folks, especially in the winter time, that also happens to be the worst possible time to have an errant driver convert your brick and mortar business into a drive-thru. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago for Lisa Hubbs and Cassandra Lopez at Gagliardo Shoe Repair in the Southtown neighborhood of St. Joseph.
Somebody literally — and accidentally, by the way — drove into the front door of the shop causing a fair amount of damage to the small building, forcing a “bonus” facelift both internally and externally according to Lisa. Fortunately, nobody was hurt in either the shop or the vehicle.
The problem is, with a huge plywood panel covering the front of the shop now, Lisa and Cassandra are fearful that folks think they are closed, when the exact opposite is true. They are fully open for business, even as work continues on the reconstruction process.
Gagliardo Shoe Repair is open daily, Monday through Friday, from 9am until 6pm and they also recently updated their website which can tell you more about their wide-ranging capabilities in the shop. You can access the site by clicking this link: http://www.michiganshoerepair.com
With winter still on the doorstep, Lisa suggests that it is pretty much the perfect time for you to check your closets, basements and other storage locations for spring cleaning and take in whatever shoes, jackets, belts, purses and other leather goods that need a little freshen-up for spring break vacation trips and for the warmer weather eventually to come.
Don’t forget too, that this is also a good time to take in items in need of winter clean up including shoe shines, boot shines, and beyond. Cassandra reminds you of the importance of getting all of the road salt removed from your leather wear as soon as possible before it creates issues. The shop carries a broad array of leather and shoe care products in addition to foot care items, and even a made-to-order men’s dress shoe line that has been very popular as well.
Gagliardo is a decades old institution in the marketplace, kept alive by the purchase eight years ago by Hubbs & Lopez who have been at it since 2011.
You can find Gagliardo Shoe Repair off of Niles Avenue behind Dunkin Donuts and across from Welcome Home. The street address is 810 Highland Avenue in St. Joe. Please excuse the giant plywood cover-up and the dust, and remember — it’s not a drive thru!
You can reach the shop by phone at 269-983-7010.
