Downtown Chattanooga's last shoe repair shop closing

Reginald Cousin calls it quits after 31 years as owner of Kenton's Shoe Repair

Reginald Cousin waits on customer Harry Austin at Kenton Shoe Shop, located at the corner of Broad and Eighth Streets Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. A new building owner is remodeling, and Cousin, age 73, is closing his shop, the last shoe repair business in the downtown area.
Reginald Cousin waits on customer Harry Austin at Kenton Shoe Shop, located at the corner of Broad and Eighth Streets Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. A new building owner is remodeling, and Cousin, age 73, is closing his shop, the last shoe repair business in the downtown area.

When Reginald Cousin started to do shoe repair in 1961 as an 18-year-old graduate of Howard High School - where he learned the trade in vocational class - downtown Chattanooga had about a dozen businesses that fixed shoes.

On Friday, Cousin will close the sole survivor, the last downtown business of its kind, Kenton Shoe Repair, which he's owned and operated for 31 years.

The building at 802 Broad St. where Cousin has leased space for a decade has a new owner who plans to renovate, Cousin said. And since Cousin doesn't want to have his business disrupted by the renovation, or find a new location, he decided a month ago to call it quits.

"The building's been sold, and I don't want to move again," he said. "Me, being 73 years old, it's time for me to retire."

"Business has been great," added Cousin, who has one employee, Arthur Ballinger. "I've got customers all the way from Monteagle to Gadsen, Ala."

The news is a blow to bankers, lawyers and other professionals downtown who rely on Kenton's to repair their dress shoes, including such brands as Alden and Allen Edmonds that are meant to be re-heeled and resoled.

"Oh my gosh, we are heartbroken," said Bruce Baird, owner of the upscale Bruce Baird & Company men's clothing store across from Kenton Shoe Repair on Broad Street.

"He does all of our shoe repair," said Baird. "A customer comes in and wants something done, we run them over there. We need a belt shortened, we'll run over there, he'll shorten it for us. He does excellent work, as pretty as I have ever seen."

Baird remembers how Cousin once saved a woman's treasured Chanel purse.

"Her dog chewed the handle," Baird said. "I took it to Kenton's, and you could absolutely not tell it [had been damaged]. He is a perfectionist."

Stephanie Crowe, an executive vice president at Smart Bank, stopped by Kenton Shoe Repair earlier this week.

"You're going to make me cry," she told Cousin, adding: "I've trusted this man for my 24-year banking career. He does such great work."

Kenton has been a shoe repair institution in downtown Chattanooga for decades, even before Cousin owned it.

"It's changed hands about five, six times," said Cousin, who remembers a co-worker who had been there for 30 years when Cousin started out as a teenager.

"I started working for Kenton in 1961, and the same equipment is here," said Cousin, who will give his shoe repair machines to his nephew, Jeffery Mcelrath, who knows the trade and wants to open a shoe repair shop of his own.

During retirement, Cousin, who lives in Flintstone, Ga., plans to keep up his house and a rental duplex he owns, and he looks forward to playing golf.

He declined to give his golf handicap.

"Oh man, that's embarrassing," Cousin said. "I'm not good at it. I just love the game."

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www. facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.

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