I worked in a shoe store over 60 yrs ago and it looks just like it did in the early 50's. I loved the smell of beautiful leather. Every shoe was individually wrapped and neatly placed in its box. When sold we wrapped the box in plain, good quality paper and expertly strung the box, being careful not to string-burn or cut your fingers, either with the string or the egde of the paper. Loved watching this vid.
Love he pieces of Americana in there.... Really cool and those shoes are made in America with REAL Materials like fine leather and real canvas or even hemp. Items made in that time were made to LAST unlike our "Use it Toss it" mentality today in America, use something for a few months they are worn and shot not those they'll last a while on your feet. Cool store and I am sure those shoes are worth good money from collectors, costume suppliers and so on.
Actually we have come full circle, 60's are all the rage again. I will share this and you will see how many people would be excited about these shoes. You could get alot more for vintage now.
Oh what a memory this video is for me. I am 63 and now retired in the Republic of the Philippine Islands. Before college, I worked part time for a small family shoe store in Brocton Massachusetts. The store in this video would almost be a twin of the place I worked. Our speciality was slight rejects from Knapp shoe. We also sold seconds and first quality from many other companies. It is very true what other commenters have stated about quality. Shoes and boots were higher quality leather and the construction was far superior compared to today. There are a few quality shoes and boots out there but be prepared to pay for that quality.
Ben Neel True Ive come to find out of all the shoes Ive worn Converse,Nike,Jordan,Reebok all namebrand expensive stuff I dont look for price now in anything I buy I look for how it made and Ive found just that in Doc Martens living in Florida a good pair of boots is required Ive had my Docs for a year in November and trust me Im not easy on my boots
The price of vintage shoes is through the roof. The styles that will sell the best are those that ARE out of fashion now. Brand new vintage shoes? New York designers and collectors would kill for them. Even some of the companies that made the original shoes would be interested, to include in their private museums.
Charlie K Yes I sell vintage stuff on line and some unused soles degrade, they just fall apart on contact. You have to give them a really good flex to check that they are fine.
i would rather buy these old shoes compared to the new ones they make because old things and machines were made to last, not like nowdays where things are made to break so you have to buy new all the time.
+tsfcancerman I know what you mean. 15 yr ago I bought a New Balance shoe for $69. It was wonderful! I have problem feet & these had a 'roll bar' to prevent my feet from walking on it's side (where u walk on the outer edge of the sole instead of the whole bottom of the sole, this happens a lot with ppl who r flat footed), also it helped to keep my feet from getting muscle spasms (fibromyalgia, flat feet, arthritis in metatarsals). I worked a job that required a lot of walking (up to 5 miles in an 8hr period) and these shoes fit the bill. 15 yr ago, $69 was a lot of money for someone who barely made above minimum wage. The shoes lasted approx. 2 yrs. I replaced them with the same shoe for $89. Again, they lasted approx. 2 yr. That's pretty good for as much mileage I put on them, u see..i also had to walk to work which was approx. 6 miles round trip. And then they started changing the make of the shoe. No more roll bar & price went up to $100. Fast forward to 2017, the cost is now $189 and the shoes are a piece of crap, falling apart if they get wet, inside wears out long before the sole does but still...sole not in great shape. U can tell where I walk on the edge of sole. Last year was my last time to buy them. They lasted approx. 6 months. I won't be buying them anymore. Need to find shoe that I can wear that won't break the bank. Tried several different Sketchers, $89 each and can't wear either of them!
Awesome. Classics are so well made and look better than our throw away shoes today. I have shoes that I have reheeled and they are my favorite, and look new each time you reheel them.
Sonia Hema obviously doesn't know wtf she's talking about! I had a pair of leather boots that I re-heeled several times myself. Nothing else ever fit as comfortable, or looked as good, as they did. After almost 30 years, they got to where they couldn't be refurbished any more. I miss those boots.
Michelle Hansen daberkow & nellz72 - Sonia looks rather young. So, she probably has no experience with the kind of quality shoes we're talking about. Have you ever put those little silica gel packets (they come in so many things now days) in your shoes when you're not wearing them? They help absorb moisture, any odor & work better than any chemical sprays, powders or inserts.
Are you assuming that they're my only pair of shoes? Or even loafers? Buy yourself a pair of hand-stitched Italian loafers some day & see if you change your mind.
Yeah. You would know because of your experience in the entertainment industry, right? I've worked in post production (audio and composite video effects) and other movie-related fields for a while now, and I don't believe you have, based on that comment. Of course everyone wants to get a good deal, but let me tell you, there's a reason Hollywood budgets are known to get out of hand - reputable set designers and period consultants DO pay more than what would be considered fair, and in a serious production backed by A-list execs and financiers, they'll spare no expense. /rant
P.S. I am not suggesting that this is THE reason Hollywood production budgets get out of hand. That would be ridiculous. I should have said "there are many reasons Hollywood budgets get out of hand. This is one of them"
A lot of times, they let the actor keep the clothes/shoes/accessories that they wear in movies. Sometimes they auction them off in bulk or put items up for bid & monies go to charities, local organizations, ect. They don't always throw them away.
Some of the old old quality is still out there but its expensive... I belong to the $40 a pair shoe demographic. For $250 I could buy some real quality.
Ray, (and 56 sad-sacks): Nobody forces YOU to buy "crap" except yourself. Buy one good pair or a bunch of crap......your choice. Save up, buy another quality pair............I never regret that. Of course, sometimes I just want a cheap pair........NOBODY forces ME! sheeeeeesh people are negative.......cheers
Dear Doctor; I'm 79 yrs. old, disabled & living on ss. I can't afford to spend big bucks on a pair of shoes. Rent' food etc; are my priorities. Maybe if I were fortunate enough to be a DOCTOR I could afford expensive foot ware and an arrogant attitude too. Question, is your maiden name Trump?
actually all of us are forced to by crap. at more then 400 percent markup .Quality is extremity hard to find , most retail markets around the world are more worried about how many units to sell instead of if the units they sell are good quality. Even the stuff at high end stores like Gucci and Prada are crap and made with planed obsolescence. < Mic Dropped >
What an absolute treasure, real leather shoes, hand made, proper materials, hand finished and everyone inspected before being boxed and dispatched to a shop like this. I would buy a pair in a heartbeat, classic designs and not modern reproductions but genuine originals. To make things fair for the public to purchase these as was initially intended, etsy, amazon or similar ( not the robbing ebay though) .
They do but you'll have to study up on the brands and you might not like what it costs to buy a quality pair of shoes. Someone told me Allen Edmonds is one of those brands. Three hundred bucks for a pair of shoes. When I was a kid there were strictly shoe stores. Now most of that is gone first replaced with department stores and then discount stores like KMart and WalMart. People could get shoes cheaper and so they did... Durability and quality be darned. Trump says he wants to make America great again - but in my mind he's just blowing smoke. If we want America to be great again then we need to start buying things made in America rather than China. Yes, my house is full of Chinese produced things too. The gov't won't be have the political will to regulate imports - we've become too dependent on them. People shop too much at the discount stores. It takes real money to buy the remaining American brands - and a good number of us can afford it at the expense of eating out alot or buying the latest upgraded smart phone. Its a funny country we live in where the "domestic" brand cars are made in Mexico and China while Hondas and Hyundai are made in Alabama thereby employing alot of people (regardless of where the top management is).
Big difference between shoes made then and now - quality and workmanship was far superior to the rubbish they sell for $$$ today. Perhaps sell it to a movie studio? Lots of options.
It makes no difference because these days you can go online and buy some great condition vintage shoes. You don’t have to buy anything modern if you don’t want to. The world is at your fingertips. And in any case there are still plenty of great quality shoemakers about
They could have an amazing 'Discovery Sale' and have a special occasion/sales event. With some Creative great advertising geared around the info. in the video, creating a media buzz would undoubtedly bring in people from all around! It's a remarkable tale & an incredible find that would Surely entice actual customers; not to mention that it would be a phenomenal way to honor his Great Grandmother.
I would advertise a vintage shoe store and clean it up. People are crazy for vintage clothing. I noticed a "made in America stamp" in one of the shoes too. Companies were proud of that back then. Great gift
Great video! I tell you, when I saw those Saddle shoes.... Again.... I just about busted a gut! I had to wear them in the 50's and 60's! Number one... they NEVER wore out! Two... they were out of style by the 60's! And.... they NEVER wore out! They were round toed! And to this day 63 years later, I thank my parents for their wisdom in fitting me with good round toed shoes. I've never had any foot problems and have nice shaped feet... especially for an old gal. Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed!
How awesome ! They could sell the shoes because there is a market for vintage clothes. This would add to their inheritance. Also reviving the family business would be a beautiful tribute to their ancestors.
I would totally shop there! I love the first shoes shown. I would love those even today. Very nice. This biggest difference of wearing the shoes from the past and the ones today is the quality of yesteryear. Much better than today.
I once found an unsold stocks of fishing lures down in the cellar. They have been down there for over 50 years. We brought them upstairs and sold them all within few weeks.
No big surprise to me, I think that shoes were much more stylish and of better quality 40 years ago compared with the mass produced crap we get from China and Bangladesh these days...
WOW! The owner of these amazing "new" shoes should get a professional evaluation from an antique appraiser or Antiques Roadshow. Some of the colors could be updated with new leather paints to make them look a little jazzier. Some of these items may actually be a "perfect fit" for a museum! Hope the shoes find just the right "homes!"
+Ninja Not necessarily. A part of the people buying "vintage" don't mind things being used and think it actually adds to the character of the product. It could actually be more difficult to sell vintage new out of the box because it doesn't have the patina that people expect and thus they do not distinguish themselves from modern day "fake" imitations. Also people buy secondhand because it is quality for an affordable price, if they wanted to pay top dollar they might as well buy some fancy Italian shoes.
+Ninja Also quality new shoes are a bit stiff and tight and need to be worn in. Very much doubt they are so well preserved that this is still possible with these and you might actually find the pristine looking leader will start to crackle and remains stiff once you start wearing them. Even if they are bought only as display pieces, the quality could still go down if they are put in a different environment (temperature, humidity etc) from the one they were initially preserved in.
Wrong...I've been selling vintage stuff on Ebay since 06...New vintage stuff in the original boxes is worth sometimes up to 100 times a used vintage item...Just saying.
Great video. The store is in fact a sort of timecapsule. It is the hole thing. Not just the shoes but also the shop furniture. It's like a small museum or a vintage shoe shop if you like. I would definately consider continuing as a shoe shop. Leave a few old shoes for decoration and sell modern fashonable shoes in the stylish old shop. You can make some good starting money selling the majority of the shoes to collectors.
20 years ago someone was remodeling an old house they'd bought in Portsmith,NH.They found a sealed off room that was chock full of ham radios from the 30's and 40's!A lot were brand new,never opened!
There is a company here in Australia, called R.M.Williams, that has been around for many years. They started out as Stockman's outfitters and still produce those lines. They still hand make a variety of high heeled Stockman's boots that last forever. If they show signs of wear, they will repair them for you, eg, new elastic sides, heels, soles, etc. The boots are not cheap, but worth every dollar. I believe that they are available in some parts of America.
I would so wear those first black shoes and my grandad wore wing tips till he died at 91 and a suit and he looked so handsome always in his clothes n nice silver hair . He was a Barber till he retired later in life then worked till 87 as landscaper n cleaned Apartments after ppl left . He was an amazing person as was my Nana and my other grandmother.I think that is so great and i would open it up and sell the shoes to public or to theater ppl . Wish i could order their stuff on line . Cool story
Great video! Man, that family was sitting on a FORTUNE!!! An unbelievable fortune!! I wonder what they decided to do??!! What an exciting find!! 👍🏼👍🏼😁😁
"These people are not highly educated" You sound to me like you are the one not heavily educated, funny we make nukes in Tennessee. I have over 20 years of education myself not counting the School of Hard Knocks known as the military, or the fact I educate myself on a daily bases, what about you? Yea that's what I thought.
Advertise a sale. Explain it fully. Use a lottery system for shoe sales. Anyone wanting to come shop has to get a ticket. Draw for order of admission. Each customer in order gets to enter and shop for one pair. If there are any left, repeat the process. Or just sell them on eBay. Lol
Hey! Those are my Saddle Shoes... Oh, I remember the white shoe polish... I had to shoe polish them after I roller skated because the holders on our skates would make marks on them. What fun!!
Yep. It would take awhile, but clean up the store, catalogue, research and appraise all the furnishings, office equipment, fixtures, etc., inspect all the systems(electrical wiring, plumbing, etc.), make sure everything is up to code, inspect the entire inventory of shoes(probably some deterioration somewhere), price them high as premium vintage merchandise, then repoen the store as a one of a kind operating museum and vintage retail business. Bring in experts to research everything. Photograph the entire process, turn it into a book. Make a killing. Sell until sold out, auction off the rest, sell the building and bank the bundle. Or, more simply, catalogue everything and auction all of it, piece by piece. It's a gold mine either way.
For all the talk you guys are just not getting the value here. THat saddle shoe? The white with red checker cloth in the middle? Worth 12K today with box, shoestrings (original) and paper wrapping from the box. The Oxford?4500. so no, you don't open the doors and sell them that way. You find the correct auction house after getting every single shoe appraised and put a reserve on each shoe. You can use ebay as well as other online antique places.
this family needs to get these in a vintage auction. Those shoes are worth a fortune. Vintage is one thing, but this is like going back in time and buying a pair brand new. I would not open this store just to sell these shoes like they are PAYLESS. I would sell each and everyone of those to collectors 1 by 1. even the boxes are worth money.
I'd buy those! Vintage shoes are wonderful. I was lucky enough to inherit a couple pairs from the 1930's from an elderly friend, back in the 1980s. Nice stuff. Good shoes are forever. And made in the USA!
I would love to have the plaid saddle shoes!! My grandmother had a Victrola almost identical to the one he found. What an amazing treasure of his GG's he uncovered!
I think the family should turn it into a museum. I remember saddle shoes, got to wear them when I was in 5th grade. A present to myself from having to wear leg braces from age 6 to age 12. I have Cerebral Palsy. I still think the family should turn it into a museum.
Whoever owns this I hope he knows this is a gold mine. The sign on the window said it all: "First Class Shoe Store"; you could see they are beautifully made, very high quality. For the privilege of owning a brand new pair of 75 year old shoes, some of the more expensive styles like those beautiful boots would command easy $400-500 today. I would advertise to the world a collection of vintage shoes in mint-new condition, and auction the sale. Great-Grandma would be proud. ps: Don't tell the government.
OMG I wore those saddle shoes in the late 40's and early 50's. I have not seen anything like that forever. I had had both the red plaid and the brown and white ones!
There's a big difference, actually! The Vintage ones are made with high Quality materials, unlike the stuff lots of new stuff is made out of these days. That's why they lasted...
Wow! A store full of vintage shoes. That is quite a treasure trove! Plenty of people who collect vintage items from different eras. The British have a lot of channels of collectors. It doesn't matter is they are in today as long as they are "brand new" originals, never before worn. There is even a pair of leather loafers identical to a pair I still have.
For men's dressy shoes, I'd buy some 1960's Wing Tips, they never go out of style. I bet those are made better then modern shoes, all leather no rubber or plastic. In the cities like Los Angeles or NYC those would sell for big bucks. You know the store is in a small town since it was not vandalized over 50 years sitting closed.
I remember going to such places in the 1950s and 1960s before you bought shoes in other big department stores. Some had giant trains for kids to watch while they waited their turn.
40 years isn't _that_ long though....most people still have large quantities of stuff from the 60's . It is ofcourse interesting to see a whole shop untouched for 40 years.
Tried to buy the contents of an old eyeglass storefront in Chicago, off Devon in East Rogers Park, the place was closed 20+ years ago but still in original shape when closed, filled with Ray-Ban displays and other huge names, it was heart breaking that we couldn't make a deal, the higher we went the more the owner wanted, bad poker face lesson, so we had to walk, I still have nightmares of those vintage glasses.
Opening it up for business would be a poor investment & you would have to invest some cash. You would have to have the building brought up to building codes before it could legally be opened to the general public and that alone, depending on where this is located, could cost thousands of dollars. Add to that the fact that once the current inventory were sold, you cannot re-supply it because a lot of those manufactures are no longer in business & to buy new shoes to re-stock is really defeating the purpose of bringing this old store back to life. It is much the same as us older folks trying to recreate our youth or turn time backward, it just cannot be done. The video however, to me anyway, was a very nice walk down memory lane. Thank You to the up loader!
+TheWackoKid1963 You do know that Al Bundy holds the single game record of scoring 4 TD's for Polk High in 1966 in in City Championship game against his , THE "SPARE TIRE" where Al scored 4 TD's in a single to WIN and break all the the school records!! That game was vs. their nemesis , Andrew Jackson High!! Al Scores in the final seconds of the game and let's just say that men have't been liberated since!!! He was ahead of his time and we could use a show like the "Bundy;s" Rebooted but still kept in it's dry humor, off color remarks, things that literally made all of us laugh because it WAS FUNNY !!! Sorry, but hurt feelings are a part of life, grow a pair or cut them off cuz they ain't meant for you!! If you never once laughed any episode of Married............With Children you a damn lie!!! He was the role model for all shoe salesmen!! It should be a mandatory video on WHAT TO DO!!! BOOOYAAAA
I noticed "Converse" brand boxes at the beginning. Those would surely be worth a bunch to the Hipster crowd. If they had vintage "All-Stars" I'd buy some myself. Neat video , captions a little repetitious and wordy, but all in all, neat.
this when shoes were made with quality, duribility and craftsmanship. something the new shoes omit. great video love the nostalgic and wish I could buy a few pair.
Don't know how you could carry on with the store after stock was gone .Everyone would know even with replacement matching shoes that they'd missed out on the originals.Nice nostalgic video.
Guess you could call me a shoe fanatic LOL! I love this shoe store!! I remember when shoes were made in the USA and they were really made well, like these! Real leather. I bought a very expensive pair of shoes that looked like real leather and looked as if the upper part was sewn to the bottom sole. I left them in the bottom closet for a couple of years since they went out of style. While cleaning out the closet I went to pick up the shoes and the top part separated from the bottom!! It was glued. The glue gave way and I was very upset, remembering how much I gave for them! I was left with 2 pieces of each shoe, the top and bottom. Not just shoes have lost the quality but look at your coins! We are quickly becoming a banana republic of sorts!
Unfortunately, while the shoes may look pristine and wearable, any that contained rubber heels or rubber at all likely aren't actually wearable. Rubber is one of those materials that cannot withstand the test of time. Basically, those 'vans' styled shoe soles would likely fall apart if actually worn. Now, the leather heeled variety of shoes found there likely are wearable, but many of those might have had rubber heel skid plates which would also have deteriorated. Before wearing or selling any of those shoes, it would be prudent to request a cobbler inspection just to be sure each pair is actually safe to wear and to have any deterioration corrected.
