Quality Cobbler in Muscatine decides to close after 46 years of business

MUSCATINE, Iowa (KWQC) - The Quality Cobbler, a shoe repair shop located in Muscatine Mall is planning to close its doors in August.

The owners Larry and Nancy say after 46 years in the shoe business and 35 of those solving the shoe needs in the Muscatine community, they now want to retire.

“We bought the shoe store in 78, like I said, and he bought shoe repair equipment. A year later, the guy came down for about an hour and showed him how to run the machines. He bought a book and learned how to do shoe repair all by himself,” said The Quality Cobbler Co-Owner Nancy Miller.

Larry grew up in the shoe business, going to Orthopedic Shoe Technician School at Ball State University and then later opening his first store in Wapello, Iowa.

“We have two boys, neither one of them... They grew up in the shoe business. Neither one of them want to do it,” Nancy said. “One’s a welder. The other one does construction. And they don’t want to do retail. And our grandkids don’t want to do it either. So there’s nobody to pass it on to just so we decided, well, it’s time to retire.”

Nancy says they don’t have any interested buyers but if they did, it would make a major difference because of the impact the store has had in the Muscatine community.

“That would be great for the community because we’ve earned a, we’ve earned a good living over the years with it. Some years were better than others. But we raised two boys with it. And all the sports they were in and we’re still here,” Nancy said.

Rex Ellis was buying his son some boots from the Quality Cobbler Tuesday. He says he’s been shopping at the quality cobbler for about two years.

“You (are not) finding nobody to repair boots or shoes around the Quad Cities,” Ellis said. “Found that this guy repaired shoes. I bought from him before but I wasn’t aware that he did repairs. We brought a pair of to him and he did a great job. So it’s gonna be a real tragic loss for the community in the area.”

The Millers say after building so many relationships over the years, one thing they will miss will be the customers.

“Just visiting with customers and working with them. But over the years, we’ve missed a lot of vacations. We’ve missed a lot of family functions, a lot of activities at church. So I think we’ll probably fill the void with doing more with family and do more church activities. And (Larry is) planning on fishing,” said Nancy.

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