Cobbler couple restoring soles in Shelton

After 32 years, new cobblers are restoring soles and patching holes in downtown Shelton.

Halsey and Thad Kallinen purchased Todd's Shoe Repair at 207 West Railroad Ave. and have renamed it Kallinen Company Shoe Repair & More. The couple is having a ribbon-cutting event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. Former owner Paul Todd will be among the guests.

Thad's father knows Todd, who told him he was looking for an apprentice to learn the shoe repair trade and take over the longtime business. Both Kallinens jumped at the opportunity.

Halsey, a 2008 graduate of CHOICE High School, left her job at the financial offices of Exceptional Foresters Inc. Thad, a Shelton High School alumnus, for eight years worked as a truck driver for Builders FirstSource in Shelton, and for the past year at the door plant in McCleary.

The couple spent six months learning the trade from Todd.

The number of cobblers has decreased because people buy $50 shoes in a "throw-away culture," Halsey said.

"You throw away and buy again," she said. "They build shoes that will fall apart."

Footwear purchased for $200 or $300 will last for years, and be worth the cost of repairs, Halsey said.

Along with shoes, the couple places patches on antique leather, adds notches to leather wrist watches and works on leather purses. Some of the equipment is from the 1940s and '50s.

The couple repairs a lot of work boots, "because we live in a blue-collar community with mill workers and firefighters," Halsey said.

They opened under their own name on Aug. 1.

"We've been getting a lot of walk-ins," Thad said.