August 13, 2021 - When I was a kid growing up in the small town of San Augustine, Texas in the 1940s and 1950s, I recall our town having at least two shoeshine stands. They were located inside two barbershops in the downtown area. Mr. Stephenson owned a shoe repair shop where he worked with all kinds of leather goods including saddles and harnesses. He would also put a shine on shoes that he had repaired with new leather soles. Mr. Crawford had a shoe repair shop on the east side of the courthouse.
A classmate of mine, Raymond Earl Hilton, had a shoeshine stand in the barbershop on the north side of the square. He put a shine on my leather shoes several times while I was waiting to get my hair cut. I look around town today and there are no more shoeshine stands to be seen anywhere. What has happened to them?
I think we can blame the “tennis shoe” for their demise. Around 1955 the new style shoe was introduced. This shoe was not made of leather, but of cloth, with rubber soles. They did not need to be shined. So, fewer and fewer shoes are now made of leather, therefore there is no need for a shoeshine boy.
Prior to 1950 in England, some shoes were manufactured with rubber soles and heels. They were primarily worn by guards in prisons. The guards could walk silently throughout the prisons. The inmates thus called them “sneakers” because the guards could sneak up on them silently. So, the word “sneaker” has stuck over time to the tennis shoe type of footwear.
Back to the shoeshine stands. After some research on the matter, it would appear that in our modern time most shoeshine stands are located in airport terminals. There are about 50 of them left. Most of their clientele are male travelers who wear boots or dress shoes. A few women who wear boots make use of the shoeshine boys.
Out of necessity, most shoeshine boys have learned to clean up and brighten the white soles on sneakers, thus they have developed new clientele in this area. Back in the early days of air travel, fliers dressed up to fly. Men wore business suits with shined shoes, and women dressed up as though going to a wedding or shower. If one notices air travelers of today, they are dressed down to shorts, tee shirts and flip flops. Women wear shorts and sandals, sometimes wearing clothes resembling their pajamas.
At the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, there are two “Like New Shoe Stands” that have been owned and run by Wayne Kendrick's family for about forty years. Kendrick, who began helping his dad at the airport thirty-three years ago, now operates the stands with his brother. He charges $7 for a shoe shine, up from the $5 his dad charged years ago.
Time-crushed business travelers are helping to keep most airport shoeshine stands in business now days. In many airports it's a long-held tradition of fast, friendly, inexpensive and complimentary services that keeps customers coming back. At the Chicago O'Hara International Airport, the “Shoe Hospital” stand not only shines shoes ($6) and boots ($8), it also offers repair services for shoes, luggage, purses, bags, jackets, and other leather items, such as shoe laces, supports, shoe cushions, mostly to pilots and flight attendants.
Apparently shining shoes is a dying art. Other than those seen at airports and bus terminals, I never see a shoeshine stand any more. Most of my shoes are made of something other than leather, thus a shine is from a damp cloth. So, if I can live without a shoeshine boy's service, so can millions of other men. Ain't that a shame.
