Forty years ago, Lenny Pennisi got his foot in the door to a unique trade when he and his father, Lou, opened Lou’s Shoe Repairs in Shepparton.
Though more common four decades ago, being a cobbler was still a unique trade in a niche market to boot.
Once upon a time, cobblers made custom shoes, but these days their demand is mostly for repairing, restoring and improving existing footwear.
However, Lenny and his wife of 30 years, Lina, offer many more services in-store than what their business name suggests.
Customer after customer walked through the doorway to their tiny old-fashioned shop in Maude St as we walked our metaphorical shoes down memory lane, bringing in all manner of leather items for repair: a binder, a handbag and, of course, footwear.
Others had come to pick up the items they’d dropped off earlier, walking out with the brown paper-packaged goods like a souvenir from yesteryear.
The smell of leather and glue in the workshop at the back of the shop is strong but not overpowering or offensive.
It’s more a scent of quality and decadence.
Lenny toils away fixing a pair of his niece’s shoes while she shops nearby.
He tells me how his father retired 17 years ago and sadly passed away 11 years ago.
Lou had learned his trade in Italy, while still at school, where students had to engage in practical after-school training to gain a qualification.
Though not his only child, Lenny was the only one who followed in his father’s footsteps to become a cobbler.
Lenny would help Lou after school and on weekends when Lou worked for other bootmakers, Clyde Young and the Deer family.
When Lou realised Lenny was all-in to cobble when he finished school, he decided the dynamic father-son duo would go out independently and open their own shop.
Lenny started an apprenticeship to become properly qualified to make and finish shoes.
He attended trade school at Collingwood Tech and completed a course that no longer exists.
“There are no new people getting into it, but there’s still plenty of demand,” Lenny said.
“I’ve loved it; it’s rewarding.
“Customers say, ‘What would we do without you?’.”
And what would they do?
Being the only cobbler in a 100km radius, the only person qualified to fix something almost 100 per cent of people wear, customers would have a long drive for help.
Despite still experiencing healthy demand in their store, the Pennisis do agree that the old trade is dying with the fast fashion and disposable revolution.
During his time in the trade, Lenny said he’d seen fashions cycle around and even expensive products drop in quality.
During his time in Maude St, he said he’d seen the street transformed into a mall and then reverted to a drive-through thoroughfare again.
That change was welcomed by customers, who have reported it’s great to pull up directly out the front of the shop with its iconic big boot atop its footpath sandwich board.
Lenny and Lina’s kids chose different trades — their son is an apprentice carpenter and their daughter a paediatric occupational therapist — but Lenny said he still had a few good years left in him servicing the people of the Goulburn Valley.
When customers drive from as far as Bendigo and Seymour for your services, it must feel like quite a responsibility.
But pleasing customers is what makes Lenny and Lina tick.
Aside from leather and footwear repairs, Lenny makes belts and keyrings, cuts keys and sharpens scissors.
The shop also sells a range of shoe care items and shoe accessories, as well as giftware and collectibles.
You can shuffle in to see Lenny and Lina’s smiling faces from Tuesday to Friday every week.