Three Generations of Craftsmanship

In its third and final generation, the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital continues to serve its patrons

Story and photos by Kate Via

The aged front door opens roughly. Nika, the shop’s mascot, looks up from her lunch-time bone briefly in acknowledgement. Light classical music fills the room, which smells faintly of leather and oil. The shop is small and dim, but inviting — resembling more of a personal workshop than a place of business. And that’s how owner Mark Meschinelli wants it to be.

“I like to keep the old ways going,” explains Meschinelli, who is now the third-generation owner of the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital. “I don’t like to get too modern. For example, when somebody comes in, and they don’t have enough money, I just say, ‘Pay me when you can.’”

"I don't like to get too modern. For example, when somebody comes in and they don't have enough money, I just say, 'Pay me when you can.'"

The shop, which has been in business since 1934, has an aura of quality and craftsmanship. Behind the counter, shelves are lined with boxes — boxes containing shoes, jackets, bags and other various items clients have brought in for repair. To the left of the counter is a large, old-fashioned Singer sewing machine — the same machine Meschinelli’s grandfather used when he opened the shop 76 years ago.

“Most of this stuff has been here for, you know, what, 70-something years? It’s been here the whole time,” Meschinelli says. “The stuff doesn’t break down, and if it does, it’s easy to fix.” And fixing is the name of the business. “We do a little bit of everything,” he continues. “We have regulars and all kinds of new customers every day ’cause we’re the only place around. We’re the only place to get something fixed.”

As the shop’s name implies, Meschinelli’s main expertise lies in repairing shoes. He also repairs zippers, mends bags and puts patches on leather jackets for motorcyclists. He does orthopedic work, modifying shoes for people with special needs, and occasionally gets the odd-ball request, like repairing the leather that holds a string of sleigh bells together.

At 17, Meschinelli’s grandfather immigrated to America from Italy to find work. He eventually bought the shop he was working in and turned it into the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital.  When Meschinelli’s father, Al, was in eighth grade, he began his apprenticeship at the shop, shining shoes and waiting on customers. Today, Al is 89 years old and continues to work in the shop.

"I do everything, I am everything — everything from sweeping up to doing the taxes."

“He comes in everyday for a few hours,” Meschinelli says, though he confesses the majority of the work now falls to him. “It’s just me and my dad,” he explains. “I do everything, I am everything — everything from sweeping up to doing the taxes.”

But for him, it’s not about the money; it’s about helping people. “I don’t get too stressed about money,” he says. “I really don’t need a lot of money to live. I don’t think money is a main reason for having a business anyway. It’s nice to make money, but you know, I do it to help people out.”

"Today, everything's throw-out. It's hard. A lot of times I'll come up to a customer to wait on them, and I can't do anything for them because the stuff they have is not repairable."

Meschinelli says many of his customers are elderly and have no other place to get things fixed. “They’re the generation that likes to get things repaired,” he explains. But this is a dying trend. Meschinelli estimates 75 percent of the customers he waits on, he can’t help.

“Today, everything’s throw-out,” he explains. “It’s hard. A lot of times I’ll come up to a customer to wait on them, and I can’t do anything for them because the stuff they have is not repairable.”
Sometimes customers get frustrated by this and take it out on him, he says. “I just tell them that the stuff (they’re) buying, that’s offered in the stores around here, chain stores, is just junk from China that is not really meant to be repaired, and that if they really want to be conscious about the environment and reusing stuff, they should spend a little extra money and get something good and have it fixed.”

North Country native Sean Carlin, however, did not have this experience when he came to the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital for help. “I had a backpack fixed there, and they were great,” he says. “It was a bag my brother had bought at Sam’s Club, and there was a manufacturing problem with it — it was sewed backward. I brought it in, and the next day it was fixed.”

For Carlin, this positive experience has made him remember the shop, something Meschinelli says is all part of the business. “I guess once you needed something fixed, and you got it fixed here, you would remember it,” he says. “I think that’s how most the time it works. We don’t even need to advertise.”

Mark Castro, owner of The Smoked Pepper, a Mexican restaurant located next to the shop, echoes this sentiment. “They cater directly to local business people,” he says of the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital. “He (Meschinelli) is a mainstay in the community, and he’s got a cute Labrador retriever,” he adds with a chuckle. Though Castro has never personally done business with the shop, he says it’s a great place to work next to.

Meschinelli also keeps busy at the shop making leather belts, a more recent endeavor he began because of the difficulty in finding quality belts in the area. “I started offering belts, and people love ’em,” he says. “They’re really good leather. It’s not very fashionable, but it’s practical.”

In its third generation, the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital, a staple of downtown Plattsburgh, may be on its last leg. With no sons to pass the shop along to, Meschinelli says it’s likely the business will eventually fade off, but he has no regrets. “This is exactly what I’d like to be doing.” 

Have you ever had something repaired at the Plattsburgh Shoe Hospital?

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