The Cowboy and the Cobbler
Sarah Leonard
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Jim’s Cowboy Shop is as much a community stomping ground as it is a business.
Emporians come in and out of the shop to talk rodeo and tell jokes while getting boots and shoes repaired or while shopping for western wear and cowboy tack.
J.D. Miller bought a boot and shoe repair shop in downtown Emporia in 1975, not knowing if it would last two years. He roped in Jim Fugate to serve as commander and more than 30 years later the store has survived two moves and a slowing demand for cowboy paraphernalia and repair.
“My dad and father-in-law started it,” Brad Miller said. “The building had been a shoe shop since it was built. They just added western wear to it and kept on with the shoe repair. I can remember the names of seven different shops in town … now we’re the only store for 50 miles.”
Closing those other shops created more demand at Jim’s Cowboy Shop.
“An old salesman once told me that we could raise our prices and do half the work we’re doing now for the same money,” Miller said. “We don’t want to do that. It keeps people coming into the store and seeing the new stuff that’s coming in.”
Noble Thornton began working in the shoe business around the same time as Fugate, when he bought Robert’s Shoe Repair. He ran the store for 15 years before retiring in 1996.
“I knew Jim (Fugate) when he worked at the feedlot,” Thornton said. “He got into the shoe business about the same time I did. We’ve been trying to beat out a living ever since.”
After taking a few years off, Thornton returned to shoe repair and has been working with Fugate and Miller for almost five years.
“He was retired.” Miller joked. “Now he’s just tired.”
Thornton says he’s a jack-of-all-trades in the shop. He repairs women’s and men’s dress shoes and purses. When he went to work in the shoe trade, many things were different, he said. People weren’t in such a hurry to have things done and there was a higher demand for cobblers.
“I think everybody’s trying to put the shoe business out of business.” Thornton said.
Though the clientele and merchandise has changed over the years, the atmosphere and equipment have not. Fugate, Miller and Thornton use 1950s-era equipment the store purchased from Ireland’s Shoe and Boot Repair in Emporia.
“An old salesman once said he’s never met a rich shoe cobbler,” Miller said. “He’s right. You’ve got to like it — you’ve got to enjoy. You’re just going to make a living. It’s a good job. We’ll keep plugging along.”