Boogies Shoe Shine Parlor Blog
Boogies Shoe Shine Parlor, a low key business but with lots of fame still an oldie but goodie. The shoe shine business in 1900s was the happening place to stop by to get a quick shine and an ear full just like a nail salon but for men. LOL
This is where there was never a dull moment as you sat in these thrones like chairs with your shoes up as you would watch the city go by through the storefront window as customers would come in & out. People of all descriptions getting a shoe shine, lawyers, teachers, firefighters, shopkeepers, businesspeople and politicians and so on. Some of the cliental that would visit these parlors would work in as businessmen wearing a pair of leather shoes that he said costs $295 new, which was a lot back then, and had worn them for years. You can pay up to $1000 for a handmade pair of leather shoes that will last you 30 years if well taken care of. After these men invested in an expensive nice pair of leather shoes then Boogies Shoe Shine Parlor would keep them going.
Back in the day it would be $5 a pair and shine 30 to 60 pairs a day Monday thru Friday they would use a wax-based polish because it fills the pores in the shoe leather best. The shiner would scoop the polish out of the cans and rub it into the leather with their bare hands. The body temperature helps soften the wax in the polish for it better to absorb. Then they would clean their hands with auto mechanic’s soap.
Over the years of course the price increased like everything else but there are parlors still in business now a days, not too many family owned storefronts though you are most likely to find them in the airports and such places.
Director/Designer of Roadside Gallery
Debbi Fadli has lived in Carbondale, Colorado for 20 years after raising her two beautiful children in Morocco. She has a passion for fine art photography and for the past 7 years, besides doing sales, being chief marketer, she also has taken the work of photographer Martin Garfinkel and designs an astonishing range of fine art photo merchandise.