Fix Your Kicks to open inside former Kanellos Shoe Repair in Edgebrook on Chicago’s NW Side

by BRIAN NADIG

A new shoe repair shop is set to open early next year in the same Edgebrook storefront where Peter Kanellos operated his cobbler business for more than 50 years.

“My grandfather was a cobbler, so was my father and a lot of my uncles,” said 26-year-old Joshua Marin, who plans to open his third Fix Your Kicks store at 6325 N. Central Ave. in January or early February at the latest. His other shops are located in Lincoln Square and Edgewater.

Marin said that he drove by the former Kanellos Shoe Repair shop and noticed it was available, eventually signing a lease for the space. Mr. Kanellos died earlier this year.

Painting and other improvements are being made to the shop, and one noticeable change will be that the pictures of scantily clad women which lined the shop’s walls for decades will be gone. Marin said that he is having them removed, adding that the pictures covered the walls all the way to a rear bathroom area.

On social media residents would debate the appropriateness of the images, with some arguing that the quality of craftsmanship at t the store was too good to pass up.

Overall shoe repair is a good business to be in, despite the ever-changing economy, Marin said. “People won’t stop wearing shoes,” he said.

The shop also will restore sneakers and fix zippers, purses and leather goods.

More information is available at www.fixyourkickschi.com