Carlos Gomez holds up a tattered pair of women’s high heel sandals.
36 WINTER 2020 | WWW.SHAKER .LIFE
The leather is frayed, the brown color is faded, and
most of the stitching is gone. The shoes are beyond
repair, but their owner just can’t say goodbye.
“People love their shoes,” Gomez says as he
shows off a nearly identical copy of the same high
heels, polished and beautiful. Usually Gomez can
repair the shoes, but for this job he knew he had to
recreate them from scratch. “It’s not easy to make
everyone happy, but I do my best,” he says. “I never
say no.”
Gomez’s reputation as a skilled cobbler has
brought him a long way from his hometown of
Gualaceo, Ecuador, where he learned his trade
as a boy from his father. Today, at age 50, Gomez
owns three shoe repair shops in the Cleveland area,
including Gomez Shoe Repair located at 16802
Chagrin Boulevard.
Two years ago, Gomez saw an opportunity to
come to Shaker when Al Nola Shoe Repair ended its
54-year run. Gomez initially took over the Al Nola
location on Chagrin Boulevard across from Shaker
Hardware and later moved a couple of doors down.
There’s little indication that the current store
was formerly a restaurant. The front is packed with
shoes, handbags, and luggage for sale. The back of
the shop is filled with hand tools, shoe forms, and
machinery. Gomez, with hands stained by years of
leatherwork, grabs a pair of worn metal pliers. His
father used the very same tool, or pinza in Spanish,
to make shoes when he was a teen. Although he has
machines that stitch leather and nail on shoe soles,
Gomez feels more comfortable relying on his own
dexterity. “In Ecuador, I did everything by hand. All
my life I have done this.”
Gomez is starting
to design and
make shoes of his
own brand. The
elegant high-heel
at right is one of his
handmade shoes.
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