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Bruce Owensby of
Wayland Square Shoe Repair in Providence, R.I.
moderated a session on tips and tricks at SSIAs
101st Annual Convention. The session
was designed for repairers to share with their
peers anything that had worked for them on any
subject. Here are a few of the ideas.
I bought a pair of
precision nippers from Sears that will extract
any pin lift. They have been a godsend at my
business.
I use medical or
surgical clamps in patchwork and with tassels.
They hold the material in place without leaving
any marks.
I use a linoleum
blade instead of a lip knife for protective
soles. It makes and clean cut that needs almost
no sanding.
I give my
customers 50 cents off the job if they bring the
ticket back.
I have a weekly
drawing for my customers who bring tickets back.
The winner gets a $10 gift certificate.
On anything I sell
for $2, Ill give them three for $5.
Nobodys going to
buy the last one of anything. If youre going to
sell it, stock up. Keep it forward and keep it
clean.
I dont give
customers claim checks because they never bring
them back. Instead, I keep them in an
alphabetical file at the counter.
I use the phone
book as a perpetual glue pad. When one page gets
dirty, I tear it off and move on to the next
one.
I use two-sided
carpet tap to hold straps in place before using
the patch machine.
I use shrinking
electrical tubing to straighten tassels. Just
wet the tassel, heat the wrap to shrink it and
the tassels dry straight.
I store glue in
coffee cans to seal in the odor.
I use Ύ-inch
drywall screws to attach ladies heel bases.
Ive found that a
Dremmel has countless uses.
There were many
other ideas that went by too fast to take notes.
Mark your calendars today for SSIAs 102nd
Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla., August
18-19, 2006. |
