A year or so later I went back to see if he could re-sole a different pair of boots, and the shop had been closed. I went to the shop next door and they told me that he had died and that nobody wanted the business. His widow notified all of the customers that were waiting for their repairs (he had a two-month backlog) to come pick them up. Incredibly the next-door lady told me that some of the customers had the unmitigated gall to complain that the work hadn’t been done on their footwear! There was literally NO ONE else in town who did that kind of work.

Better find quilting groups when they are still around. My 83 year old cousin in Montana has hosted a quilting group at her home for decades. She informs me that each year the quilting group gets smaller and smaller. Few young replacements are learning quilting. (I should ask my cousin if any of her granddaughters have picked up quilting. One of her granddaughters shares her grandmother’s love of horses.)

From Alberta, not that far from Montana: Corb Lund – “Never Not Had Horses”
(As an indication of relative distances in Montana: the high school teams in my cousin’s town compete with the high school teams of a town 150 miles away.)

Mattsky;
Try a shoe repair that caters to bikers – the motorcycle kind – I got the zipper on my computer bag replaced at one in Salt lake City.

Now if only I can find someone to resurface my ice skates…

Maybe I’m wrong, but my understanding was that, up until relatively recently, every little town and village had it’s shoemaker, who made you your shoes and, then, came mechanization and standardization.

Fast forward to today, and its really really hard for me to find stock shoes which actually feel good.

Of course, go somewhere like Saville Row, and there are the high end shoe makers who, for a very hefty price, will custom make you a pair of “bespoke” shoes, which, one assumes, would fit you like a dream.*

Then, there are “orthopedic” shoemakers, who create custom shoes for people who have foot malformations and other medical issues, and they’re apparently pretty thin on the ground.

However, try to find a local shoemaker, someone who can somehow modify standard shoes to make them really fit you, and you have to look long and hard and, if you find such a guy, you can bet its gonna’ cost you.

I feel kind of guilty not going and seeing if anyone needs furniture repairs

My wife belongs to one. They make little quilted blankets for the regional NICUs, small handbags for carrying medicines issued by the hospital, etc. Some of the projects involve zippers.