| Thursday, November 20, 2008 | Opelika, Alabama |
Vol. 1, No. 4 |
Summers Shoe Shop brings craftsmanship to downtown Opelika
By
Cliff McCollum
As you enter the shop, the smell of polish, glue and leather comes in strong waves. It's an old world smell, and seems both familiar and distant at the same time.
The man behind the counter is friendly and affable, and shoots the breeze with customers about how you don't often see people holding the door open for other people any more.
In the hustle and bustle of modern society, a place like a simple shoe repair shop on an old downtown street might never be given a second glance. The modern world is not often friendly to its anachronisms.
However, judging by the cars lined up outside the shop on South Railroad Avenue, Summers Shoe Shop is just the sort of anachronism people love and cherish.
Charles Summers first opened Summers Shoe Shop on the corner of South Railroad and South 9th Street in 1977 and it remained there for almost 31 years.
Summers was born in Hugo, Colo., a small town of about 850 people. He also lived in Chicago before moving to Opelika, as the framed aged copies of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune from the day of the Kennedy Assassination testify.
“I went out and bought those straight from the box right when they came out,” Summers said.
The shop is filled with machines and work benches for Summers to ply his craft. He still uses many of the machines he purchased when he first opened.
Summers owns several Landis cast-iron machines, including a model made in 1923 he still uses to sew soles onto shoes.
“In many ways, that machine works just as well as some of the newer machines,” he said.
The newer machines Summers referred to were made in the 1960s of the same cast-iron materials. Summers said many of the parts for the 1923 machine also work in helping to repair the newer models.
Summers also has five Singer sewing machines to aid him in his work, each with a different color of thread ready to go.
“I originally bought one of them to use for parts since it was almost rusted through,” Summers said. “But, once I started fixing it, it started sewing and it sews just as well as the other ones. With all of these machines, I don't have to change the thread with each new pair.”
Summers Shoe Shop is a dying breed of shop, as it is the only shoe repair shop left in this area. Summers said there used to be similar shops in Tuskegee and LaGrange, Ga., but they have since closed their doors and Summers has seen their business come to his shop.
The walls of Summers' store are taken up with hundreds of pairs of shoes, most with the little purple tickets safety-pinned to them to tell Summers what needs to be done to them.
On an average day, customers might be surprised to find an old black cat perched on top of the shelves, a cat Summers has named Big Bird.
“We call him that because he likes to climb,” Summers said. “He's just one of those downtown cats. He's our cat so much as we put out food for him.”
The walls are also home to Summers' collection of old beer cans, including a few cans of Billy Beer and even two cans of “New” Coke.
But the pride and joy of Summers' well-loved collection of items is a piece from the Fall 1968 Sears and Roebuck Catalogue: a Sears and Roebuck Pacesetter motorcycle that still has its original tires and battery and has exactly 3,598 miles on it.
“It still runs well," he said. "I crank it up once a year and ride it down to the depot and back. You don't ride it fast, but it still runs really well.”
Since February, his store has moved further down the street to a new location that still retains the feel of his original shop.
“It wasn't really too difficult to give up the old building,” Summers said. “The guy who bought it is a really nice fellow. He's going to turn it into an art gallery, and I think he'll do well there.”
Summers' business is one of the few remaining older businesses in downtown Opelika.
“There have been a lot of changes in downtown Opelika over the last few years," he said. "There aren't too many of us older ones here, businesses like Smith T's Hardware and Alabama Office Supply. It's been interesting to see."
“It's just me mainly, a lot of sole repairs and ladies' heels,” Summers said. “My wife comes in and helps out when I need it. It's a good husband and wife operation.”
Summers said he sees and works on about 1,000 pairs of shoes every month.
“The shoes have really changed over the years,” he said. “There's no comparison when you take shoes that were made today and compare them to the older ones. It's really just a case of poor construction.”
Summers said it now takes him twice as long to put a new sole on a heel as it did when he first opened his shop.
Summers has also seen a change in American culture affect the amount and types of shoes that he sees.
“Volume wise, we don't see as many as we used to,” he said. “Most shoes are reparable, but most folks just throw them away now.”
Summers makes shoes from scratch as well, but he doesn't sell them at his store. He makes boots for himself and family members, and even fashioned himself a pair of work shoes he wears every day.
“They are made well,” Summers said. “At the very least, they sure do fit well.”
Judy Robinson, one of Summers' neighbor store owners at The Gathering, said she has loved Summers' move down the street.
“It's a great thing because he gets so much foot traffic down to our side of the street,” Robinson said.
Robinson said she always enjoys talking to Summers because she finds him to be an interesting person.
“He has an appreciation for old and interesting things. He's like an old pair of shoes, just a really good fit,” she said.
Velinda Wheeles, director of Opelika Main Street, agreed with Robinson's assessment.
“He is able to do one of those lost arts that have fallen by the wayside in today's society,” Wheeles said. “To me, it seems like he doesn't do it for the money. It seems like he does it for a sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride.”
Wheeles said she remembers when taking shoes to Summers' shop were just a part of life.
“You would buy your shoes from Easterwood's, and if they broke down, you took them to Summers' Shoe Shop,” Wheeles said.
Summers, 73, said he's not sure how much longer he will be able to keep up with the business.
“I would like to see a younger couple come in to take over," he said. "It is getting to where it is getting to be too many hours."
Robinson agreed with Summers that it would be a great business for a younger person to get involved in.
“I wish someone would come in and apprentice under him,” Robinson said. “Someone could have a trade, a lucrative business. The thing is you just don't have people who want to learn a trade anymore.”
Still, Summers continues on every day, re-gluing and re-stitching the well-loved shoes placed in his expert care, a true craftsman practicing an almost forgotten craft.Layaway makes comeback during holiday season
By Alex Scarbrough-Anderson
With a struggling economy and families with lighter wallets this holiday season, many department stores are resurrecting the idea of layaway.
Sears, Kmart and Goody's Family Clothing are all giving customers' layaway options for purchasing merchandise from their stores, hoping to attract earlier holiday season buys.
Many retailers scrapped the layaway option when credit cards became the main method of payment.
It had been nearly two decades since Sears last offered layaway to its customers, but after seeing the success of layaway in its sister store, Kmart, Sears has brought the idea back.
Layaway works as a payment plan for purchasing items. Customers can go find what they want to buy at the store and bring it to the layaway desk where a payment contract is signed.
Most layaway contracts run from the point of purchase through Dec. 23, requiring customers to pay the balance over that time. A down payment of anywhere from 10 to 20 percent the total cost is required to put the item on layaway. A service fee of $5 is also tacked on the balance, although Kmart currently offers a $5 off coupon for layaway available on their website.
The cancellation fee on contracts is $10, along with the loss of the non-refundable $5 service fee.
Sears store managers Chiquita Sistrunk and Ashley Rainoldi both agreed the economy has pushed more people to ask for layaway.
“The poor economy seems to be the reason Sears brought it back,” Rainoldi said. “It's definitely bringing in more business because people don't want to pay the full price the day they buy it now. They just can't afford it.”
Rainoldi said items like electronics, appliances, automotive parts and Doorbuster Specials are not allowed to be placed on layaway. Of the merchandise put on layaway so far, she said nearly all of it is clothing, with the exception of one tool box.
Many large retailers do not offer layaway programs. Best Buy, Macy's, Target and Wal-Mart all don't have it, with Wal-Mart closing its layaway program in 2006.
Kmart and Sears began advertising its layaway option this month, in anticipation of the holiday shopping rush.
Don Hamblen, Sears' chief marketing officer, said the decision to bring back layaway was made after hearing customers' positive response at Kmart.
"In this difficult economic climate, extending the layaway program at Sears is an easy decision and one that we hope will provide additional value to our customers,” Hamblen said.
Sistrunk said the response has been immediate at the Sears location at Colonial Village Mall in Auburn.
“In two days of being open, we've already had about 25 customers put merchandise on layaway,” Sistrunk said. “They're shocked to see it. A lot of people have been calling about it and once the commercial they have planned for advertising it comes out that'll be it.”
Rita Robison, manager of Kmart on East University in Auburn, said she has seen longer lines at the layaway department this year. There were half a dozen people in line at noon on Monday waiting to put everything from sweaters to a Play Station 3 on layaway.
“We have seen a lot more people using layaway this year than in the past,” Robison said. “It's been a significant change.”
