Alexandria Gazette Packet

The counter was piled high with an assortment of shoes. Joe Johnson, owner of Bradlee Shoe Repair, was in the back trimming a sole on a men's cordovan loafer.

"I used to do orthopedic and wedges for the children's shoe store right here in Bradlee Shopping Center, but the demographics have changed with young professionals moving in without kids, so that store went out of business," Johnson said.

Almost all of the stores are different, he said. There used to be a swimming pool, a soda fountain where the seniors had coffee every morning, and a former mayor of Alexandria worked at the bank on the corner before he went into politics. "When I was at the store at the front of the shopping center, the housewives would drop off their dry cleaning and shoes in the morning. They would come back when the last soap opera was over with their clothes changed waiting for their husbands to come home. My customer Pepper would come in. He was a doctor so we would all yell here comes Dr. Pepper."

Johnson has been in the shoe repair business for 53 years, 25 at his current location. Before that he was shining shoes on the street in Charlotte.

"Any kid with a box could do it — just move your box around and you could do it in a bus station or anywhere," Johnson said.

He has some people who have been customers for decades. "There is a man who has been bringing his shoes for over 40 years. I don't remember his name, but I remember his shoes. He's been wearing the same pair for 40 years." According to Johnson, over time shoe patterns have changed. People have more shoes and more expensive shoes. They are more fashion than durable. "See this pair," he said picking up a pair of red three-inch heels. "These are $600. "

Sometimes people come in and want shoes repaired that are worn out completely and are going to take a complete reconstruction. "I have to look them over to determine if I can be successful. But they work me around and threaten to cry so I do it to keep the customer happy," he said. "I remember one young man whose shoes were so bad that his mother told me she would pay me to lose them."

Johnson says he has to open early to meet the schedules of the young professionals who come before work. There is a pattern. On Friday at 5 pm when they hit the highway after work they stop by to pick up their shoes. On Saturday it is busy with people who live in the neighborhood. He says he has to be available to them. Sometimes Johnson repairs 50 shoes a day, sometimes 100: "If I have more, I stay late."

He pointed to a shelf overhead crowded with an over-sized double blue and red clown shoe, a young military lady's bad weather boot, a pair of brown boots made in Australia and more. "Those are my special projects that take a while." Usually shoes are ready in a day or two. "I work with the customer's schedule." But he remembers one woman who stopped in on her way to work with her tennis shoes on. She wanted to pick up her blue pumps, but they weren't ready. She told him she would have to go home and change her entire outfit. "I learned something that day, and I make sure the ladies are taken care of."

His daughter poked her head around the corner with a question. She takes care of the customers. "Jolander runs my life in front," he said.

Shoes are piled in brown paper bags waiting for customers at the front desk. Boots and dress shoes are off to the side while women’s spike high heels are lined up waiting to be done in a production line. His daughter says with a grin, "He has his own system of finding shoes that I can't change."

The only vacation Johnson has ever taken was 25 years ago when one of his sons played European men's handball on the Olympics team. "My wife and kids told me to go and they would run the shop while I was gone." Johnson added contemplatively, "This is forever," and picks up a pair of shoes to polish off for the next brown bag.