Cape Cod at work
Click here to see a feature article in the Cape Cod Times. (May 2012)
Heart and sole:
Bass River shoe repairman is a dying breed
By Nicole Muller
Sat Nov 14, 2009
Article link with photos
BASS RIVER - A vintage shop sits along Old Main Street in South Yarmouth. Blink, and you’ll miss an opportunity to step back to a day when life was simpler and practicality was an expectation.
The building that houses Bob Hagopian’s Bass River Shoe Repair shop started life in 1860 as Blind Reuben Baker’s general store and has since served as a restaurant and cabinet shop. Hagopian bought the property in 1989.
Born and raised in Los Altos, Calif., Hagopian was strongly influenced by his mother’s uncle, who came from Sweden in 1922 and opened a shoe-repair shop in Sonoma County. “I liked the craft of working with leather, and I enjoy working with my hands and being indoors,” Hagopian says.
After high school, Hagopian enrolled in the shoe-repairing program at Laney College in Oakland. He later studied orthopedic shoe repair at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. “When my uncle was retiring, he asked me to take over his shop, but in the end, we didn’t buy it,” he says. “I worked in his shop until my wife Cathy and I moved here in 1977.”
From coast to coast
A New Yorker by birth, Cathy Hagopian spent summers on Cape Cod where, in 1967, her mother opened The Poppy Shop on Route 6A in Yarmouth Port. By 1976, her mother was a full-time Cape resident with painful arthritis. “Mom needed me, so we packed up and left California, not knowing what was going to happen,” Cathy says. “We drove across the country in our VW bug.”
Hagopian immediately landed a job at Tony’s Shoe Box, a shoe repair shop in Hyannis, and moonlighted as a carpenter. The couple house-sat in Yarmouth Port and within a year had enough money saved to open a shop in Great Island Plaza in West Yarmouth, where business was brisk. “Chain stores selling low-priced shoes had yet to arrive on the Cape,” Hagopian says. “I repaired lots and lots of shoes, which were much better quality than today’s, so they’d last even longer.”
The shop was so busy that Cathy was needed to run the counter and do the finish work. “For awhile, Cathy worked with one or the other of the kids on her back,” Hagopian says.
When the Bass River property with a home and adjacent shop went on the market, it was a dream come true for the Hagopians. “Our three children grew up in this shop, went to John Simpkins School right next door,” says Cathy, who still mans the counter, chats with customers about the antique shoes scattered around the shop, and measures out oilcloth, which she sells by the yard.
Although his primary interest is shoes, especially orthopedics, Hagopian repairs anything made from leather that’s repairable. “We go to shoe shows to learn about new materials, new glues, new techniques,” Cathy says. “All shoes can have heels and soles replaced, but with all the new materials, it’s important to keep up.”
Recession buster
Forty years ago, there were approximately 95,000 shoe-repair shops in the U.S. Only about 5,000 remain. “I would say it’s a dying art,” Hagopian says.
The Hagopians’ two sons, one a marine mechanic and one a Realtor, weren’t interested in learning the trade that’s traditionally passed down in families. “It’s not easy, and you won’t become a millionaire, but I raised three children and supported my family without ever going into debt,” Hagopian says. “If all else fails, dogs bring in the business because they like to chew shoes, and the most costly shoes seem to be the tastiest.”
Over the years, Hagopian has repaired leather pigs with loose tails, leather camera cases, old bomber jackets and briefcases. His business has not skipped a beat during tough financial times. “People have things repaired rather than buying new. For about $40, a man can get a new leather sole and heels on a pair of $120 dress shoes,” Hagopian says.
The couple recently visited their son in Washington, D.C. “His friends brought their high-quality shoes and we flew back with 10 pairs to resole,” Hagopian says. “Last week we got a box in the mail from Richmond, Va. People find us on the Internet and send us their shoes.”
Metamorphosis
Hanging in Hagopian’s workshop are a half-dozen violins that he plans to fix “some day.” A mandolin, tucked under his workbench, provides a peaceful interlude on a hectic day. Just inside the shop’s door sits Hagopian’s signature bass fiddle.
“Rudy Schwarzer came in one day 22 years ago to have his accordion straps fixed,” Hagopian says. “He needed a bass player in the Cape Cod Bavarian Band. I’ve been with him ever since.”
Those passing through the quiet Bass River neighborhood after dark are used to seeing the closed sign on Hagopian’s door while the lights glow and music seeps through the windows. “A bunch of musicians in the neighborhood, who do other things in the daytime, come here to jam at night,” Hagopian says with a lazy smile.
As if on signal, in walks Stu Ruch, who plays guitar in the group. Learning that an interview was in session, Ruch held up his foot and said, “Chewed by a dog, repaired by Bob.” Asked what he does during the day, Ruch said, “I’m a doc, a heart doc.”
Grinning, Hagopian shrugged, as if to say, “What did I tell you?”
Bass River shoe repairman is a dying breed
By Nicole Muller
Sat Nov 14, 2009
Article link with photos
BASS RIVER - A vintage shop sits along Old Main Street in South Yarmouth. Blink, and you’ll miss an opportunity to step back to a day when life was simpler and practicality was an expectation.
The building that houses Bob Hagopian’s Bass River Shoe Repair shop started life in 1860 as Blind Reuben Baker’s general store and has since served as a restaurant and cabinet shop. Hagopian bought the property in 1989.
Born and raised in Los Altos, Calif., Hagopian was strongly influenced by his mother’s uncle, who came from Sweden in 1922 and opened a shoe-repair shop in Sonoma County. “I liked the craft of working with leather, and I enjoy working with my hands and being indoors,” Hagopian says.
After high school, Hagopian enrolled in the shoe-repairing program at Laney College in Oakland. He later studied orthopedic shoe repair at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. “When my uncle was retiring, he asked me to take over his shop, but in the end, we didn’t buy it,” he says. “I worked in his shop until my wife Cathy and I moved here in 1977.”
From coast to coast
A New Yorker by birth, Cathy Hagopian spent summers on Cape Cod where, in 1967, her mother opened The Poppy Shop on Route 6A in Yarmouth Port. By 1976, her mother was a full-time Cape resident with painful arthritis. “Mom needed me, so we packed up and left California, not knowing what was going to happen,” Cathy says. “We drove across the country in our VW bug.”
Hagopian immediately landed a job at Tony’s Shoe Box, a shoe repair shop in Hyannis, and moonlighted as a carpenter. The couple house-sat in Yarmouth Port and within a year had enough money saved to open a shop in Great Island Plaza in West Yarmouth, where business was brisk. “Chain stores selling low-priced shoes had yet to arrive on the Cape,” Hagopian says. “I repaired lots and lots of shoes, which were much better quality than today’s, so they’d last even longer.”
The shop was so busy that Cathy was needed to run the counter and do the finish work. “For awhile, Cathy worked with one or the other of the kids on her back,” Hagopian says.
When the Bass River property with a home and adjacent shop went on the market, it was a dream come true for the Hagopians. “Our three children grew up in this shop, went to John Simpkins School right next door,” says Cathy, who still mans the counter, chats with customers about the antique shoes scattered around the shop, and measures out oilcloth, which she sells by the yard.
Although his primary interest is shoes, especially orthopedics, Hagopian repairs anything made from leather that’s repairable. “We go to shoe shows to learn about new materials, new glues, new techniques,” Cathy says. “All shoes can have heels and soles replaced, but with all the new materials, it’s important to keep up.”
Recession buster
Forty years ago, there were approximately 95,000 shoe-repair shops in the U.S. Only about 5,000 remain. “I would say it’s a dying art,” Hagopian says.
The Hagopians’ two sons, one a marine mechanic and one a Realtor, weren’t interested in learning the trade that’s traditionally passed down in families. “It’s not easy, and you won’t become a millionaire, but I raised three children and supported my family without ever going into debt,” Hagopian says. “If all else fails, dogs bring in the business because they like to chew shoes, and the most costly shoes seem to be the tastiest.”
Over the years, Hagopian has repaired leather pigs with loose tails, leather camera cases, old bomber jackets and briefcases. His business has not skipped a beat during tough financial times. “People have things repaired rather than buying new. For about $40, a man can get a new leather sole and heels on a pair of $120 dress shoes,” Hagopian says.
The couple recently visited their son in Washington, D.C. “His friends brought their high-quality shoes and we flew back with 10 pairs to resole,” Hagopian says. “Last week we got a box in the mail from Richmond, Va. People find us on the Internet and send us their shoes.”
Metamorphosis
Hanging in Hagopian’s workshop are a half-dozen violins that he plans to fix “some day.” A mandolin, tucked under his workbench, provides a peaceful interlude on a hectic day. Just inside the shop’s door sits Hagopian’s signature bass fiddle.
“Rudy Schwarzer came in one day 22 years ago to have his accordion straps fixed,” Hagopian says. “He needed a bass player in the Cape Cod Bavarian Band. I’ve been with him ever since.”
Those passing through the quiet Bass River neighborhood after dark are used to seeing the closed sign on Hagopian’s door while the lights glow and music seeps through the windows. “A bunch of musicians in the neighborhood, who do other things in the daytime, come here to jam at night,” Hagopian says with a lazy smile.
As if on signal, in walks Stu Ruch, who plays guitar in the group. Learning that an interview was in session, Ruch held up his foot and said, “Chewed by a dog, repaired by Bob.” Asked what he does during the day, Ruch said, “I’m a doc, a heart doc.”
Grinning, Hagopian shrugged, as if to say, “What did I tell you?”
