- A lot of people don't know what a cobbler is.

People don't know that we still exist.

Hi, my name's Bob Fontaine, this is my take on cobbling.

People come in and say, "It's my favorite, "favorite shoes," that's the bottom line.

It's like, "My dog chewed it, it was my father's, "I want it fixed and get it back to normal."

Everybody's, "Oh, I'll throw it away.

"I'll buy another pair," you're paying good money for your shoes, bring it in, we'll look at it.

We're honest with you, we'll let you know right there and then if we can do it and how much it's gonna cost.

They're not making the shoes as well as they used to.

My industry, we have to figure out, okay, different types of glue for different types of rubber now.

Some are glued, some are stitched, it's a new game.

I always like working with my hands and I always made things You're creative, you gotta think outside the box.

I probably started 25 years ago.

Before I was a cobbler, I was in the Teamsters.

I hurt my back and I couldn't do heavy lifting anymore.

My brother-in-law, he had a store and I learnt to trade from him.

I finally found something I liked to do and my body could stay up with it.

When I took the shop over, I come down, talked to the previous owner, Marcel Cayouette, very nice people, him and Janice.

And they were here 45, 50 years.

I left the name, I said, "Why would I change the name?

"Everybody knows Cayouette's Shoe Repair."

I like moving, I can't sit still.

If I don't have three, four jobs going at once I'm not happy 'cause I bounce from here to there.

Cowboy boots, work boots, ballroom dance shoes, car salesman, I do their shoes 'cause they wear out quick.

Anytime you turn around, you never know what's gonna walk in the door.

I have a gentleman who comes in from Connecticut.

He works for, I think, the Shriners and he's a clown.

And he brought his clown shoes in and they're like huge and nobody would work on 'em.

So I rebuilt the whole shoe for him, and everything and he loved it.

A lot of the jobs are challenging, which I like.

The ladies high end shoes, the Louis Vuittons, the Christians with the red soles, I do the sole guards on 'em.

And a lot of guys don't wanna work on 'em because they're very expensive and you gotta take your time.

I have the state police contract, I do their boots.

They're high-end boots, and they're very tall.

A lot of times we have to do full soles, heels, patches, and they're always wearing 'em out 'cause they're in 'em 10, 12 hours a day sometimes.

And you have to make sure that they're up to snuff.

We've got a customer coming in, I believe.

My thing is, when somebody comes, picks up their shoes, I take everything out of the bag and show 'em what I did.

Because a lot of people just say, "Oh, I'll take it."

I say, "Wait a minute, I spent a lot of time fixing this "for you like at least look at it "and appreciate it a little bit before you wear it."

People say, "Oh my God, I couldn't believe "it could get done," I make one person happy a day, I'm happy, okay, I can go home.

There's nobody opening stores.

The older guys are passing away.

The families are just closing the stores up.

There's, I think, only maybe six left in Rhode Island.

It's tough to say who's gonna run the shops.

I hate to say nobody and I feel bad for the people because it's getting tougher and tougher to get somebody to fix your shoes.

We wanna make sure it thrives.

(gentle music) It's a nice thing because it's a family business.

Everybody says, "Bob, you got the gift of gab."

Want to know what's going on in your life when you come in here.

Whatever they wanna talk about, it's good.

A lot of times they come in and say, "Oh, oh, I forgot my mother's in the car."

Or, "My wife's in the car, I gotta go back out."

If somebody comes in and they're a couple dollars short, I say, "Don't worry about it.

"Next time you come in, pay me."

And I bust them up 'cause I say, "I'll put you on the Wall of Shame over here."

I put you on the Wall of Shame here.

The next time you come by, pay me.

You trust your customers, they trust you.

This is how local businesses should run.

People say, "Oh, how can you survive?"

Guess what, get up, go to work every day and be happy what you're doing.

I'm doing something I love to do, I work with my hands.

I like challenges and I like people.

Yes, my name's Bob Fontaine, and that was my take on cobbling.