[ti:Shoeshine Businesses Disappearing in the U.S.]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-03-06]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Penn Station Shoe Repair and Shoe Shine is a small shoeshining business in New York City. 
[00:10.19]On a recent weekday, customers sat down at the shoeshine business and pulled out newspapers and phones to read while their shoes got shined.
[00:24.41]The shoeshiners cleaned the footwear and added an oily substance to protect the shoes' leather material.
[00:35.36]When finished, the customers paid eight dollars for the work.
[00:40.97]A sign hanging at the little business reads, "We're not God, but we do save soles."
[00:50.74]Shoeshining has a long history in the United States, dating back hundreds of years.
[00:59.60]But today, the tradition of getting a quick shine is weakening. 
[01:05.82]Shoeshine stands are disappearing in cities and towns across the country.
[01:13.83]The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the business decline.
[01:19.48]More people work from home than in the past. 
[01:24.35]And it has become popular to wear more casual work clothes. 
[01:30.44]All this means fewer customers for shoeshining businesses.
[01:36.63]Nisan Khaimov owns the Penn Station stand. 
[01:41.85]He said his stand would shine 80 to 100 shoes each workday before the pandemic.
[01:50.94]Now it is between 30 to 50 from Tuesday to Thursday and even fewer on Mondays and Fridays. 
[02:02.33]The work-from-home model that is common across America is hurting his business.
[02:09.71]"Until people come back to work, the problems will not be solved," said Khaimov.
[02:17.56]Rory Heenan is a 38-year-old accountant from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[02:25.37]He said as a young boy he would take the train with his father on his way to work one Friday each month and watch him get a shoeshine.
[02:38.13]"I would just sit here as a little guy, you know, observing," he said.
[02:44.10]"And here I am, you know, 30 years later, doing the same thing. So, it's certainly something that's passed down over time."
[02:56.59]Across town, Jairo Cardenas is also feeling the losses.
[03:03.18]Business at Alpha Shoes Repair Corporation is down 75 percent from before the pandemic. 
[03:13.23]His business used to shine 60 or 70 shoes a day.
[03:18.34]Now, on a good day, he shines shoes for 10 to 15 customers.
[03:26.89]Shoe repairs generally bring in more money than shines. 
[03:33.64]At David Mesquita's Leather Spa, which operates five shoe repair and shine businesses in the area, the repairs are the major part of its sales. 
[03:47.30]But shoeshines are still an important offering to bring people in as most shoe repair businesses do not have the service.
[03:59.27]Before the pandemic, Leather Spa had four shoeshine chairs at its business inside New York's Grand Central Terminal.
[04:10.19]It employed six shoeshiners.
[04:14.35]Together, they would complete about 120 shines a day. 
[04:20.42]Now, there are three shoeshiners who do 40 or 50 shines a day at most.
[04:29.09]But Mesquita is seeing people slowly coming back.
[04:34.95]His December 2022 shoeshine numbers were up 52 percent compared with December 2021.
[04:45.15]"Traffic is slowly coming back in, we're seeing the commuters come in and everything, but we're still not back 100 percent of what we were," Mesquita said.
[04:59.24]He added that shoeshining is not something that will ever fully go away.
[05:06.61]"People like to treat themselves," he said, "whether it's once a week or twice a week or, you know, once every two weeks. It's just nice."
[05:19.15]I'm Caty Weaver.
