Owner Doug Livelsberger will miss his Pennsylvania customers when he moves to Maine.
When Beanie's Shoe Repair opened, in 1952, there were 12 more just like it in Hanover. At the end of this year there will be one, closed, with a 'for sale' sign in the window on Broadway just east of York Street.
Owner Doug Livelsberger started repairing shoes 46 years ago, at the age of 15 - something that has been his life's work.
Livelsberger makes his home on the second floor of his Hanover shop, only a short walk up the spiral staircase he installed himself. The space is a bit on the cozy side, but he says he likes to keep things simple.
Simple is also why he never gives out pick-up tickets to his customers. He doesn't want them worrying; besides, it forces him to remember their first names.
"People like a personal
Doug Livelsberger works on a shoe in his shop on Thursday afternoon. He said the shop was named after his father. 'I love what I do; I kept the name of Beanie to honor him.' (THE EVENING SUN -- CLARE BECKER)
touch," he said, "That's the one thing that's missing. People don't get to know their customers anymore. That's a mistake."
Livelsberger is moving to Maine, but he says he'll miss his Pennsylvania customers. They come to visit even when they don't need repairs - just to visit, or pet Hercules, his 5-year-old black lab and shop mascot.
He's never had to advertise, and his shop has outlived all of his competitors. But it's not all about money, he says.
"You have to love what you do," Livelsberger said. "You have to have enthusiasm, self-satisfaction, pride. This is not a six-figure job, but if you work hard and save your money you can make a good living."
But most cobblers have not been so fortunate.
In 1943, there were
about 63,000 shops in the U.S.; now there are about 6,000 according to Jim McFarland, a historian for the Shoe Service Institute of America.
"We will be a thing of the past for the most part in 20 more years, unless the consumer starts buying quality shoes from good companies made with quality material," McFarland said.
Bucking the trend, Livelsberger took destiny into his own hands in 1976.
Times were tough, but he decided he learned all he could from his father. It was time to
Doug Livelsberger is closing his Carlisle Street location Jan. 1 and moving to Maine, where the business will be strictly mail order. (THE EVENING SUN -- CLARE BECKER)
venture out on his own. So he opened a shop in Gettysburg.
He had four competitors there, all gone now.
Forty years later, he also still has a shop in Gettysburg, in a small shed at the back of a gas station parking lot on Carlisle Street.
In the shed is an imposing American flag, country music and a cash register from 1933.
"A convenience store in McSherrystown was going to throw it out; there was nothing wrong with it. The bell even rings!," he said.
Livelsberger doesn't believe in complicating things, using the same workflow process his father taught him, the production-line system. He does all the sanding, then he does all the cementing, then he does all the finishing.
When he's done, he "puts a nice edge to 'em, gives 'em a shine, and puts 'em on the shelf."
Livelsberger got from his dad is more than just a craft.
The nickname his dad got working at a bean factory in McSherrystown as a kid - Beanie - is now Livelsberger's name when he hikes the Appalachian Trail, which he completed. It took him 14 years, in 100- to 200-mile sections, to complete the trail. He says he would do it again in a heartbeat.
At the end of the year, Livelsberger is moving to the outdoorsman's paradise where he plans to learn ice fishing.
But you don't have to go to Maine to find beautiful hiking, he said. His favorite spot on the Appalachian Trail is right here in Caledonia state park: the Quarry Gap Shelter.
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