The sole of a shoe can be found in the heart of downtown Bowling Green.

Glenn’s Shoe Repair is owned by experienced shoe repairman Glenn Haught, who’s wife Linda Haught helps out with the business.

Glenn got his start in the shoe repair business 31 years ago after he opened a Western store in Bowling Green. Glenn and his wife learned the trade through hours of practice and experience.

The shop has moved to various locations throughout the 31 years, but is now located downtown at 117 Clay St., next to The Happy Badger. The business serves a variety of customers with an assortment of clothing item dilemmas. Glenn will repair just about any shoe his customers bring in, whether it is women’s or men’s heels, work boots or hockey skates.

The Haughts believe repairing shoes can help their customers bank accounts.

‘It’s a lot cheaper than going out and buying new shoes,’ Linda said.

However, Glenn’s Shoe Repair is not strictly shoe repair. Glenn also does repair work on a number of items including purses, belts, baseball gloves and leather jackets. In addition to repair work, Glenn and his wife work mainly with leather to create such pieces as knife sheaths, phone cases, tool cases and pouches for various items. Glenn is also known to do orthopedic work for customers.

While Glenn works on most projects at the shop downtown, his wife works out of their home on the more ‘tedious’ projects such as putting zippers in leather jackets, putting elastic in sandals and patching shoes.

Linda attributes the business’s longtime success to their customers. ‘I think that [some people] like to make their things last longer,’ Haught said. ‘They’ll have it repaired instead of throwing it away and getting new.’

Although Glenn said college students make up a very low percentage of his business, the shop has a wide customer demographic.

‘It’s working class people, college professors, bankers, attorneys’hellip;a little bit of everybody, really’ Glenn said.

While Bowling Green residents make up the majority of business, people travel from Fremont, Defiance, Napoleon and Findlay to take advantage of his rare skills. People ranging from 20 to 80 years of age bring business to Glenn’s. Many are loyal customers, whom Glenn has been servicing for up to thirty years. In fact, Glenn is now servingthe children of his longtime clients.

Trisha Beach, University staff member and a customer for eight years has had at least a dozen pairs of shoes and belts repaired at Glenn’s. She said she goes to Glenn’s because ‘it’s easy, it’s convenient, it’s right here in town and he does a great job.’

But for Glenn, his satisfaction comes when he takes his customers beloved items and reinvents them.’

‘It’s just something that makes me feel good when I take an old pair of shoes and make them look new again,’ Glenn said.

Business at the shop remains steady, although slower in the summer months and picking up again in August.’ The busiest time of year for the Haughts is October through December.

Shoe repair prices range from $5 to $50, depending on the type of shoe and the repair needed. While a pair of women’s heels costs $8, a pair of work boots could be repaired for about $50. Shoes are repaired and typically ready to be picked up within a week.