Gabriel's Shoe Repair in Pittsburgh to close after nearly 50 years
PITTSBURGH (KDKD) — Gabriel's Shoe Repair in Downtown Pittsburgh is set to close this month after nearly 50 years in business.
The 81-year-old proprietor, Gabriel Fontana, who himself is a Pittsburgh institution, says that he is ready to retire.
Fontana has been working on shoes almost his entire life. Growing up in Italy in the aftermath of World War II, Fontana's childhood was spent going to school and learning the cobbling trade, a trade that would enable him to emigrate to the United States and land in Pittsburgh, a city he very much loves.
"It's a quiet city," Fontana said. "There's not too much of a crowd like in Philadelphia, Chicago, California. And the cost of living is not too high."
"Tthe people's good," he added. "Very good in Pittsburgh, very friendly."
After being in the North Hills for a few years, Fontana took over his family's Forbes Avenue shoe repair store in the early 1970s. He says that back then, Downtown looked a lot different.
"When I started here, at lunchtime, you couldn't even walk down the street," Fontana said. "There were a lot, a lot of people. And Fifth Avenue had a lot of shoe stores and people used to bring me a bunch of shoes to do stitching."
Business remained abundant for years for Fontana, and it wasn't till the COVID-19 pandemic that the foot traffic at his small store started to fall silent. But despite business coming back this past year, Fontana said it's time for him to retire.
And once he is gone, his repair shop will close, leaving only a handful of shoe repair places still open in the region.
"I know a lot, a lot of people in the Downtown," he said. "I feel bad for these people. People come in and cry, 'Where are we bringing shoes now? We miss you. We miss you.' All are good people. You feel bad."
Cobbling is a dying art form, with very few, if any, young apprentices to take over. And it's hard work. One pair of shoes can take up to 30 minutes to fix. But for Fontana, it has been a labor of love, a love that is shared with his clients.
"He's a good person," Joanne Rozier said. "He fixes purses, shoes and everything."
Though Fontana will be missed, he will not be forgotten by the thousands of people he has helped over the years.