Seattle PI has a good piece today on one of the neighborhood’s unique businesses:
Old-world repair store hanging on by a shoelace

If you don’t know it, Angel’s Shoe Repair is around the corner from Coastal Kitchen and the rest of the bustle of 15th. We stopped in last month to repair a sole blowout on our possibly knock-off Prada boots. Damn you eBay. The boots cost $100. Raymond Angel charged 4 bucks to fix the flopping sole.

The PI notes that Angel, not surprisingly, is finding it difficult to keep up with rising rents.

–snip–

Angel has just enough business to cover the rent, which keeps rising — 20 percent this year alone. On top of base rent, Angel pays his portion of property tax, insurance and building maintenance.

“The bars and restaurants chase away the small businesses,” he said.

–un-snip–

We’re not sure only bars and restaurants are to blame — probably want to look across the intersection to Walgreen’s, really. But it won’t be a surprise to see more and more institutions like Angel’s disappear. City People’s is already gone. How long can Hilltop survive?

Don’t misunderstand. We’re not trying to preserve what should pass — in fact, we’ve never really known 15th without the Walgreen’s. But trying to buy some spackle for a small home repair left us wishing there was still a City People’s and, we’re pretty sure, there will come a day when a heel breaks or a sole leaks when we will wish Angel’s was still around also.

So, you know that pile of shoes you’ve been meaning to have repaired? You’d better head over to Angel’s soon if you want the place to survive. Last we checked, Walgreen’s didn’t do shoe repair though they do sell lots of super glue. Alas, no spackle.

–j/k