[Times photo: Douglas Clifford]
Cecil Lopez and his brother Henry bought Service Shoe Repair in Clearwater in 1946, then moved it to its current location in 1954.

CLEARWATER -- Cecil and Henry Lopez have been repairing people's soles longer than anyone can remember.

But times are changing.

"There's always something to do, but not enough to keep the business going," Cecil Lopez said of the shoe repair business he and his brother have operated for more than 50 years in downtown Clearwater. "I can't make a living anymore."

Service Shoe Repair, a downtown institution for about 70 years, will close its doors by the end of the month.

But this story involves more than just the end of a small business. It's about the changing face of downtown Clearwater and the changing tastes of shoppers.

* * *

A dwindling customer base is the main reason the brothers have decided to sell everything in the shop at 649 Cleveland St., on the corner of N East Avenue, and retire.

Business has dropped off so much that 76-year-old Henry Lopez, who lives in Tampa, hasn't worked at the shop since June.

"He just doesn't want to be here," said his 81-year-old brother, who lives in Clearwater.

When the business was thriving, the brothers, one left-handed and the other right-handed, repaired rips and tears in shoes, dyed them, put on new soles and heels, and made orthopedic shoes for local doctors.

Lopez attributed the decrease in business to a number of factors, such as the popularity of synthetic athletic shoes that can't be fixed when they fall apart, a loss of parking in the shopping district and the moving or closing of other downtown businesses.

Diane Mancarella, a tax specialist for the Pinellas County Tax Collector, stopped by the shoe store Wednesday afternoon to have a broken heel repaired. She was stunned to learn the business was closing.

"'I've worked at the Courthouse for almost 36 years, and I've probably been having my shoes fixed and repaired there that long," she said. "They're so nice, their prices were reasonable, and I've always been very pleased with their work. This is so sad."

John Homer, a Clearwater native and another downtown business owner, also lamented the closing.

The Lopez brothers are "wonderful cobblers," he said. "They were always upbeat, positive and friendly. They were proud of downtown."

Homer and his wife, Michele, who own the Saltwater Fly Fisherman several storefronts from the shoe store, are moving their business to Tampa at the end of the month. Loss of parking and access to shops is the motivating force behind the move, he said.

* * *

The atmosphere of the downtown shopping district changed drastically in 1973, Homer said, when the city took away diagonal parking.

Business picked up "when they brought on-street parking back seven years ago," he said. "But now the city has again taken away some parking and increased parking rates and tickets. With the new bridge (between the mainland and Clearwater Beach), we will be remote to everything."

Some small businesses are holding their own, however.

Owner Alan Bitman has been operating Park Jewelers, three doors up from the shoe store, for 24 years. The business is opening a second store next month in the Westchase area of Tampa.

But in the 1950s and 1960s, downtown Clearwater was thriving, Lopez said.

"From Fort Harrison to Myrtle avenues, Cleveland Street was packed with people during the week. We had everything -- dress shops, jewelry stores, grocery and drug stores, restaurants, movie theaters -- just like the malls have now," Lopez said.

In those days, Lopez said, he had three or four employees helping shine, sell and repair 100 to 200 pairs of shoes a day.

"We had eight or nine chairs in here, and they were always filled," he said. "We were always busy."

When he bought the shoe business back 1946, it already had been in operation for at least 20 years in the old Scranton Arcade on Cleveland Street, he said.

A year later, Henry joined him, and they worked eight years at the arcade before they moved in 1954 to their current location.

In a salute to the old arcade torn down years ago, the Lopez brothers had a mural depicting the arcade painted on the side of their building.

Lopez said the brothers originally thought they might be able to sell the business. Dozens of letters mailed to other shoe stores were returned.

"They've all gone out of business," he said. "When I was a kid in Tampa, there were over a hundred shoe shops. Today, if there are six or eight, it's too many."

-- Christina K. Cosdon can be reached at (727) 445-4154 or cosdon@sptimes.com.

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