When you walk into Habib Jamshidian’s shop on Hastings Street in the Heights, the first thing you smell is leather.
Lots and lots of leather.
Whether it’s leather shoes or leather belts, Jamshidian sells it or repairs it.
It’s that last bit that is causing Jamshidian some grief. As the owner of G.A.M Shoe Repair and Retail, it’s the repairs that take the most time and effort. He cuts keys for people as well, and sharpens knives and scissors too.
But it’s the art of repairing shoes that takes the most skill. It’s that skill that makes it difficult to find staff, which means he works long hours six days a week.
“I can’t find anyone to learn the trade,” he said in an interview with the NOW on Friday. “They call it a dying art. That’s because new people aren’t learning how.”
Jamshidian is willing to teach somebody the art of repairing shoes, which ranges from replacing heels and soles to adding new heel tips to repairing damage to surfaces.
It would take about two to five months to train a new employee depending on how fast they pick it up. And he’d do it for free.
“As long as they agree to stay and work with me,” he says.
Finding employees can be a difficult task for small businesses. Just a block east of Jamshidian’s shop is Butchers Block BBQ, which told the NOW in January that it was closing its doors on Sundays – to go along with Mondays – due to an inability to find enough employees.
Jamshidian says repairing footwear isn’t just a job, but can become a career.
“It is hard work, but you can make a good living at it,” Jamshidian says. “People always need their shoes repaired.”
He should know about becoming successful. Jamshidian is the prototypical immigrant success story. He came to Canada in 1993 not knowing any English and few prospects. Through hard work, he and his brothers now run four shops – he just won the NOW’s Best of Burnaby award for shoe repair - with hopes to open more if, as he says, he can find somebody to learn the trade.
“It’s basically just me,” he says. “I’m sharing this to hopefully find somebody.”
If you know somebody who is interested, give him a call at 604-298-1922.
