Zumbrota shoe cobbler hopes to add ease to people's steps

Sep. 17—ZUMBROTA, Minn. — While surrounded by new pairs of shoes considered art at Luya Shoes in Zumbrota, Ansley Travo reaches behind the counter for a pair of her work. She describes the repaired heel on an ornately decorated boot as "spiffy."

She moves through the store with comfort: gathering a shoe with a tassel that fell off, trying on shoes to learn the right fit for customers' narrow feet and smiling at the bell-bottom jeans she plans to wear. It's the comfort and ease she hopes to share with customers in need of shoe repair, from their favorite pairs to adjusting shoes for a leg-length difference.

"I get so emotional seeing people walking in what I've done and they feel good," Travo said. "It's life-changing. So I can't wait to see how many lives I can change."

Travo walked toward the path of a cobbler steadily through her

years working at Luya Shoes,

from connecting customers to the right fit, shopping for thousands of shoes, seeing shoes disappear for repair and chatting with Mike Derouin of Thee Only Shoe Repair. The last step drew her to the "right" path of training with Derouin months after his and his brother Tony's

Rochester store closed in September 2022.

Her training offers Rochester residents a

closer shoe repair option compared to Austin or Northfield.

Luya Shoes and Other Fine Things owner Connie Hawley said "little by little" people stop by the store with their well-worn shoes. Derouin also collects repairs from shoe stores in Rochester as well as longtime customers.

"After fitting people and learning how to do it and watching her (Connie), I notice everyone has different feet and we all have different problems. And if I can do anything, I want to make life ... easy," 19-year-old Travo said. "The things that you can control you got to work on that, and your feet they're the roots of your whole body you need to take care of them. So I love my shoes so why not learn how to fix them?"

As the finisher machine pounds out the shoe's crinkles, Travo holds up a shoe with a question and Derouin nods and points with his answer. They work until the knots disappear, with one shoe for each of them to work on in the process. In her first week at Derouin's Lanesboro machinery shop in June 2023, Travo found her rhythm with the "very intimidating" machines.

The machine's metal last dropped to the floor as she ripped off the shoe model. "I still think about that," Travo said with a laugh.

"You'll continue to keep doing that," Derouin said. "Just keep your toes out of the way."

He's convinced "she likes the machinery, that's what I think she likes." Travo adds she likes the stitching machine over the finisher. The finisher, or "workhorse," is set with grinders, buffing wheels and trimmers where the bulk of work occurs at a shoe repair shop, Derouin said. They also repair a variety of items, such as zippers, luggage and backpacks.

"Do you know how to sew?" Derouin likely posed to Travo in their 15-minute conversations at Luya on his way to teach taekwondo. He said sewing is one of the main skills of repairing shoes. In the hopes of continuing the cobbler role, Mike and Tony Derouin searched for five years for someone to run their business, and

Pete Chafos of Boston Shoe and Boot Repair

even offered his shop for free.

"There's just nobody really going into the industry so when the opportunity for me to have somebody to teach that's going to keep that profession going it's like, 'Yeah, I'm up for that,'" Derouin said. "I've been in the business for 50 years and I did alright through all this time and so it's time to give something back. If I can get somebody that is going to continue to do it, why it's worth it."

As a proud and joyful pair, Travo notes the basement location where she plans to open her shop. Derouin shares his input on mats for a wood or concrete floor in the space, and how she can repair antique shoes as a future display item.

"Our goal is that eventually her repair shop will be here (at Luya)," Hawley said. "We've thought about plans to the building where we'd like to put her underneath part of our store in the back. She could still have a shingle on Main Street but they would enter through the back and her shop would be downstairs."

Travo said she's "really lucky" to have her family of support, including Derouin and Hawley. Even Gail Derouin welcomes her home with kombucha and truffles. While selling new shoes, Travo enjoys the fashion and customer service elements, and with shoe repairs, it's the creative, dirty work.

"Every time I go, I think I fall in love with it more," Travo said of her time at the Lanesboro shop.

Travo said "it's actually something worth doing" and she isn't sure why people left the role as "it's amazing" to work as a cobbler. In 1917, Rochester had 19 shoe repair shops.

"I enjoy the community and the final product of what I see," Travo said. "I don't ever second guess myself with this stuff. I just do it because I know how it's going to make me feel. So much joy. I struggle with mental health as most of the population, and so that falls away when I'm in the shop."

While the lessons keep Travo on her toes, she will "rock it" when her business opens, Hawley said. People already love the Facebook posts about shoe repairs. Other customers share their thanks in grateful smiles and notes. "If it (the boot) works good, I'll send another one," one customer wrote, and on came the next boot.

"She's getting to experience the customer's reaction, the customer's appreciation to the work that you do and that makes it all the more satisfying besides the money they give you to do it," Derouin said. "Just to see sometimes their amazement."

In her walks between shops on Main Street, Travo pays attention to people's shoulders and hips wondering how their movements impact their feet, and if their shoes fit. She hopes more people will share her swell of joy with their improved shoes that come through her shop.

"I don't see it being work for me. I see it as a lifestyle," Travo said. "I'm excited to see where I'm going to go with this."

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Ansley Travo's name.