LI Cobbler Whose Plight Touched Hearts During Pandemic, Set To Retire
RIVERHEAD, NY — A Long Island cobbler whose plight during the pandemic touched countless hearts is set to bid adieu to the business that's been a staple in the Riverhead community for more than five decades.Fred Ruvolo has owned his shop, The Village Cobbler, on Griffing Avenue in Riverhead, since March, 1971. And, leaving behind a storied legacy and generations of customers who consider him a touchstone on their shared landscapes, he's decided to close his doors for the final time on Saturday, June 29."I made a pact with my wife that we would retire together — we're both retiring on Saturday, June 29," he said. Ruvolo's wife Natalie works for as an administrative assistant to the principal in the Three Village Central School District. "It's just our time. We've both worked hard our whole lives. I'm 73, she's 72 — it's just our time to retire."During the pandemic, Ruvolo's struggles to stay afloat touched a chord — and since that word spread, crowds began to stop by his shop in droves — business has been booming, he said.So much so that now, Ruvolo finds himself "overworked, stressed," he said. "I can't keep up this pace. At night, when I go to bed, my hands are swelling and screaming."Sadly, when the business shutters, its long legacy will be just a memory, Ruvolo said. "I believe it will be just another barbershop," he said. "I didn't have any success in getting anyone interested in buying the place."While all the East End towns once had a shoemaker, as they closed, they were not replaced, he said. And now, anyone with the skills necessary to helm the business is located hours to the west, and usually does not want to commute to the East End.Since the pandemic, cobblers have been struggling across the board, he said. "A lot in New York City had gone out of business in the pandemic. I know of at least eight others that are for sale right now — nobody seems to be getting any nibbles."He added: "You need a certain skill set to be able to get into this business. It doesn't happen with a six-month course."Ruvolo's shop, located at 149 Griffing Avenue, is a step back in time, the walls lined with shoes and dozens of styles of laces, a testament to his years of service to his clientele.Reflecting on his business, Ruvolo said he's owned the shop since he was just 19 years old. He was born in Deer Park and had begun working in shoe repair when he was just 14. When he was in college, he decided he wanted his own business and found the space in Riverhead.The previous owner had died, he said, and the supplier didn't want to move the machines, "so he gave me the opportunity to sign a note," Ruvolo said.Ruvolo credited his Riverhead landlord at the time, Fenimore Meyer, for giving him a chance. "He said, 'This town can use a good repairman,'" Ruvolo said. They talked about the rent and Meyer asked him if "$85 a month sounded good. I said, 'I don't know if I can afford that,' and he said, 'Make it $65 until you can afford it,'" he said.Over the years, the business flourished, with customers coming from the North and South Forks and towns across Long Island. A full-service shop, Ruvolo fixes many things besides shoes, including pocketbooks, belts, horse gear, airplane and car parts, tennis nets, trampolines, and even umbrellas."If I can do it and do it properly, I will," Ruvolo told Patch in a prior interview. "As long as I can get a good outcome. I will only fix things worth fixing. Some people think I can fix everything but I can't."Instead, Ruvolo always evaluated whether an item could be fixed before he told a customer he could be of service. "People work hard for their money and I work hard for mine," he said. He didn't want customers picking up a repaired item only to have it break again right away.His sense of integrity was instilled by his parents, said Ruvolo, who was one of seven children."It was the old school way of doing things," he said. "Your handshake was your bond. If you didn't have anything nice to say, you didn't say anything."Those values are often sorely missing in recent days, Ruvolo said.For years, customers have come back to Ruvolo for his workmanship, frequenting the type of small business that is too often fading from the proverbial landscape."There are generations of families," Ruvolo said. "Nothing makes you feel older than when someone says, 'My mother used to bring me here in my baby carriage.'" He laughed.His career path has always been fulfilling, Ruvolo said. "I wake up every morning feeling pretty good," he said. "Being able to say you're in charge of your own destiny, which I have been, my whole life, is a joyful thing. When I was growing up, the American dream was that you would be able to succeed at anything as long as you applied yourself. You weren't looking for a handout, you were looking for a hand up."Meyer, he said, gave him that hand up. And throughout his life, Ruvolo has remembered those early life lessons."I try to treat people the way I like to be treated," Ruvolo said. "I start with treating people with respect and dignity."The most important thing, Ruvolo said, has always been the quality of his repairs. "That's my reputation," he said. "I have never been here to make a dollar. I've been here to help people."Customers who enter find a shop seemingly untouched by time. "It's like a time warp, a time bubble here," he said. "I'm the way it used to be."Penelope Moore of Shelter Island was the person who first posted about Ruvolo's travails during the pandemic. And she's heartbroken to hear that he's bidding adieu."Fred Ruvolo has been not only a much-needed resource on the East End, but also a good neighbor and a true artisan when it comes to repairing and caring for footwear," Moore told Patch. "He had expressed in the last year that he was considering retiring because his hands sometimes ache, but I didn’t think it would come so soon. There are so few craftsmen left who take pride in their work the way Fred has."She added: "Over the years, I have brought bags full of shoes to him, asking, 'Can this be saved?' He examines them the way a doctor might, giving recommendations, saying, 'That’s a classic' or 'You might get a few more years out of this pair.' Who else but Fred talks about shoes that way?"And, she said: "He is so patient when it comes to the rambling reminisces of customers. 'I have had a love hate relationship with these slingbacks, but I can’t give them up,' I once said. Fred responded, in a matter-of-fact tone, 'When you find a pair that has a style you like and the right last, even if you don’t wear them that often, you just have to stick with them a little longer.'"The memories will last forever, Moore said. "Fred’s shop is a step back in time, from the signs saying they fix skates to the shoelace packets hanging from a pegboard, with his cassette tapes of the radio show 'Saturdays with Sinatra' playing in the background. Fred deserves a happy retirement for all the hard work he has done. I, for one, will miss his work ethic, level of skill, and friendliness."She said that she'd gotten choked up, just thinking about Ruvolo's last day. "I don’t know what we are going to do when Fred closes his 'shoppe'," she said.Despite the dearth of shoemakers on the East End, the need is still great for cobbler services, Ruvolo said — with the clock ticking, he's trying desperately to help all of his customers before his final day. He's been coming in early, staying late, working on weekends, just to do his best for his clients."Right now, I'm concentrating on trying to help the people who cannot walk without my doing a shoe modification — there's a lot of orthopedic work I have to do," he said. Since the surge of popularity and social media interest, Ruvolo said the number of customers has escalated at a steady pace for years. "I've just been overwhelmed," he said. "It's hard to keep everybody happy. People have been coming to me for years. I don't want to disappoint anybody."The number of customers also increased when his longtime competitor in Westhampton Beach passed away recent in recent years, he said. "I had my own clients, and then, I had his," he said. "After the stories during the pandemic, the internet exploded, with everyone so happy with me." He smiled. "They call me the 5-star shoemaker."Reflecting on what he will miss the most, Ruvolo said after spending a lifetime in the community, the bonds he's created will be hard to break."I'm going to miss the East End hospitality," he said. "The old timers, who were always so kind to me."Those old timers, he said, "had integrity. Their handshake was their bond. Basically, if they didn't have anything nice to say, they didn't say anything. We're so far away from that these days."He added: "I have to give a shout-out to the farmers. I didn't know much about the farmers until I came to Riverhead. They've always been warmhearted people, who would bring me cauliflower, tomatoes, strawberries, dropping off produce. One day Ken Schwenk brought me a 50 lb. bag of potatoes!"One of the hardest things so far, he said, has been finding new homes for all the antiques he used to display at the front of the shop. "I had no place to take them," he said. "And so, I've been parting with them. Losing them is like losing a little piece of myself, every time."But, he said, those who've purchased the treasures are so happy to have them. "That made me feel good," he said. "I cherished them — and it's nice to see other people cherish them, too."If he had one message to send out to the many, many clients who've passed through his door for decades, Ruvolo said, "I'm going to miss them."The article LI Cobbler Whose Plight Touched Hearts During Pandemic, Set To Retire appeared first on Riverhead, NY Patch.
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