WESTBOROUGH – It’s a Thursday morning inside Arcade Shoe.
The space at 3 W. Main St. is surrounded by more than five decades’ worth of leather, shoes, boots, accessories and equipment.
In the middle, with just enough room to move around, Bill Horne cut some excess leather from a pair of shoes.
There’s plenty to keep Horne company – his work, his customers, a radio and TV (when there are no customers around), and a stuffed raccoon dubbed Charlie. It stands on an upper shelf, with a grand view of the front door.
Horne said that when kids visit the store, they often ask about Charlie.
For the adults, Charlie may be a curiosity, but they’re in the shop to get repairs on everything from boots and shoes to leather bags – even kilts.
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Just about anything with a piece of leather will find its way to Arcade Shoe, one of the few remaining repair facilities in the area.
Horne remembered when there were three shops in town, and more than a dozen in Worcester. Most of those shops have closed, as it’s becoming harder to find those willing to take over the business.
Horne himself has employed part-timers and trainees, but these days he usually works alone.
“It’s hard, dirty work,” he said. “You have to enjoy it.”
Horne got into shoe repair around 1972, just after he left the Army.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Horne.
He began helping his grandfather, Sam Korneblum. His first job? Shining shoes.
“There were three stands just outside the store,” he said. For a 50-cent shine, he’d often get a tip of 25 or 50 cents.
It was a Saturday routine, he said, when folks would get ready for the weekend, or church the following day.
“Those were the days when people dressed up for church,” he said.
When Korneblum fell ill, Horne bought him out. It’s been his shop ever since.
Even though he’s in his 80s, Horne has no plans on retiring.
“I’ve never regretted it,” he said. “There’s always plenty to do.”
The work goes beyond shoes and boots. These days, Horne can be found working on kilts, handbags, designer goods – just about anything with a piece of leather on it.
His latest projects – creating a bag out of a pair of men’s pants, and making a set of immobilizers for the New England Center for Children in Southborough.
“I make a lot of these,” he said of the immobilizers, which are worn around the arms and legs of autistic students to keep them from hurting themselves.
Arcade Shoe is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon. In addition to repairs, the shop offers a line of accessories, including polishes, cleaners and shoe trees.
For information, call 508-756-1352.
