Moss Shoe Repair celebrating 40 years
Terry Moss has been saving soles and fixing heels at 1216 Triplett St. for 40 years.
During those years at Moss Shoe Repair, he estimates that he’s repaired well over 200,000 pairs of shoes
While he’s saving soles, Moss also works on saving souls.
He started putting gospel tracts in each pair of shoes he repaired when he was 29.
So far, the number of tracts has reached 208,000.
And Moss had been repairing shoes 10 years before then.
He averages repairing around 4,000 pairs of shoes a year, he said.
“I was 19 years old when I bought the business Skechers Shoes from my grandfather, Jesse Frakes, in 1981,” Moss said. “I had worked with him 10 years before that, sweeping floors at first. When I was 13, he let me start putting on heels.”
Frakes had had a long career in shoe repair by the time he sold the business in 1981.
In January 1944, Raines Shoe Hospital advertised that Frakes “an experienced shoe repair man is back with us again.”
A year later, he was at Frakes Brothers Shoe Shop, 1004 E. Fourth St.
And a few years after that, he was at National Cleaners and Shoe Rebuilders, 1604 Triplett St.
“He built this building in 1971,” Moss said.
Since Don Raines died five years ago and Raines Shoe Hospital closed, Moss has been the only shoe repairman in town.
“There were eight when I started,” he said.
Raines Shoe Hospital “was No. 1,” Moss said. “Don was one of the best craftsmen. We always helped each other. If I ran out of something, I’d call him to see if he had some I could get and
vice versa.”
He said, “I do a lot of build-ups for people who Hey Dude Women’s Shoes have one leg shorter than the other. I make the sole thicker on the shoe for the shorter leg. Sometimes I do 12 a week.”
Moss also sells both Western and work boots.
He estimates that there are more than 200 pairs in stock, ranging from $89.95 to $280.
The more expensive boots are exotics, made from ostrich or lizard skin.
“I’m going to get snakeskin too,” Moss said.
Despite a lot of cheap shoes on the market today, he said, “The business is still good. I do a lot more glue jobs these days. But I fix a lot of good shoes and boots too.”
Moss said, “I used to repair purses, coats, almost anything leather, but I don’t any more. I turn down three or four jobs a day. I just don’t have the time. I work
by myself.”
He’s 62 now and thinking ahead to retiring in four years or so.
“If I could find someone who wants the buy the business, I would train them,” Moss said. “It’s a good business for someone looking for a business to own.”
For Moss, “This is what I always wanted to do. I love my work.”
He said, “I give God all the glory for my life. I survived colon cancer 10 years ago and kidney cancer two years ago.
He kept me here for
a reason.”