Shoe Repair Shop Doesn't Stop at Footwear

Shoe sales and repair gave its name, but the shop isn't just about shoes. In the over 25 years owning and operating the shop, store owner Joe DiStefano has seen—and repaired—it all.

“We do everything,” said DiStefano. “Orthopedic footwear, handbags and luggage. We shorten belts, (repair) backpacks, baseball gloves. We get some crazy things.”

At age 13, DiStefano began his career as an apprentice in a shoe repair stop. DiStefano told Patch that this experience was vital to the success of his future business, as it allowed him to spend long periods of time honing every aspect of the craft.

“You’ve got to apprentice for it; you can’t learn it. Same with me; I started when I was 13 years old working for somebody. I’ve done it for a long time, and that’s probably what makes me better at it. I did each stage. When I started, I worked in a shop that had seven men and I was the youngest. I was a kid. The only time you got to move up was if the old man died,” said DiStefano. “It was like an assembly (line), so I worked for probably three or four years at each stage. Then, at 24, that’s when I opened up.”

Since then, the business has grown alongside the town in which it operates. When first opened up in the 1980s, Hillsborough’s population was much smaller and there was not a similar shop for miles.

“There was no place like this between Princeton and Somerville, so that’s why I claimed it up here,” said DiStefano. “At the time, there were 13,000 people in the town at the time, and now there’s what, 45,000?” (Editor's Note: 2010 census data placed Hillsborough's population at about 39,000 people.)

It’s still hard to find a shop quite like however, which is why customers keep coming back—even after they’ve moved out of the area.

“We get people from pretty far away. Again, there aren’t too many people that do the repair service and orthopedic work. People come from 30 or 40 miles and travel (here),” said DiStefano. “I’ve got people who lived in town for many years, retired and moved all over the country. Some of them—maybe a dozen or so—mail me their shoes for repair once or twice a year because they can’t find anybody to do it.”

Giving back to a community with a large military veteran population is important to DiStefano, especially those with disabilities suffered while overseas. In these tough economic times, DiStefano’s helps veterans with all of their shoe repair or orthopedic needs.

“We have a lot of vets that come in and we help them out,” said DiStefano. “A lot of them have problems and they turn their backs on them at the hospital, so we help them with some of their needs.”