Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-01
MONEY IN OLD SHOES.
SECOND HAND DEALERS WHO
 ABOUND IN LARGE CITIES.

A Chat with One of the Biggest Dealers
 in the Country - Where the Supply
 Comes From-Trade Only in Mems Shoes.
 People with Tender Feet.
 sharp looking, we'll dressed man sat in the Bingham house smoking @ cigar and reading a newspaper.
 That's the biggest man in his line of busi- ness in this country" said the clerk, indicat- ing the sharp looking man by rapid motion of the eye.
 "And what is his businessg"
 "Second hand shoes, and there's big money in it, too, can tell you"
 On being judiciously approached the sharp looking man proved affable and communities tlve Il imagine" ]" said he, ''that few people have any idea of the extensive trade that is annually done in second hand boots and shoes In this country. suppose you think, as most people do, that none but the very poor people would condescend to wear the left of shoes or other folks In all cities and large towns you may notice shops for the sale of second hand boots and shoes. At some time or another, dare say, you have had a shabby looking man call at your house and inquire II you had any cast off shoes to sell If you have ever given the matter passing thought. no doubt the shabby man and the second hand snoe store are connected in your mind. You conclnde that the itinerant uIchaser of cast oh foot wear sells the result of his days tramp to those who keep the second hand shoe shops, and that from that source alone he derives his supply.
 COLLECTOR AND CUSTOMER
 Nothing of the kind, sir-nothing of the k2nd. The few people in my line of business Tor, thank goodness, our trade is not as vet quite as overcrowded as most others--fur. nish vast majority of the second hand shoe stores with their goods. The headquarters of my firm is in New York, and as we are the biggest people in our line, nearly all the collectors in that city and for miles around bring the best of the contents of their daily bags to us. It's no use bringing the rub bish, as they know we don't handle it. We keep bred 'examiners'-men who know all about shoes worth knowing-and they earn every dollar we pay them in examining shoes and boots from 8 a. m to 6 p. m. every day of the week except Saturday.
 "ln this way we buy from 1000 to 2,5OO pairs g day. The best of these, say about one-half, are cleaned. paired and go into stock, classified in qualities and as nearly as possible in sizes. The remainder go into our repairing department, where they are resoled and heeled, and subsequently, nearly all ex-
 
 buyers of private people, but agents who pur- chase on our account from the collectors, here in Philadelphia, Boston. Baltimore, Chi cago and few other cities From these sources we gather about as many as we do in New York. All the country stuff is treated the same as that which comes to us direct from the collector
 Altogether we do a pretty extensive busi- ness, sending out daily more boots and shoes than most of the manufacturers, but then. you see, there are not a dozen people in our business all told, and shoemakers, wholesale and retail, are numbered by the thousand. We never buy a shoe that has the slightest cut or crack in the uppers, as this would necessltate patching, and the sort of people. who buy high priced second hand shoes would not look at disfgured pair. Still these have O marketable value and the collector can give a quarter for a slightly cracked pair and resell to the 'restorer' or dealer in much | worn second hand shoes at profit, and he will retail them at profit of from 75 cents to $1.60 after he has fixed them up. Of course this sort of stuff is only patched up, 1t don't pay for resoling and heeling. We only deal in mems shoes. There is no market for second hand womens foot wearsof good quality. You cannot get the ladies to 1 wear left off shoes any how. You might as
 
 discarded bangs"
 THE TRADE IN PHILADELPHIA. In this city the retail trade in second hand | shoes of fine grade and in good condition does | not flourish to any extent. Worn footgeer | or this character, however is to be found in l few dingy looking shops in the neighbor- | hood of Sixth and Spruce streets and along South street by those who have no prejudice against wearing "dead mens shoes," or en- casing their pedal extremities in the cast-oR | soles and uppeTs of fashionable folk. In one | Qf these establishments an ostensible pur- chaser was shown second hand shoes of all l styles and sizes, ranging in prices from sl6o to $S pair. All these goods were evidently 1 of fine make The leather was soft and pli- l able, the stitching close and fne and although l the "uppers had evidently already done good l service, no cracks were observable. But all | the style and finish was confined to the l "uppers," for in every instapce the shoes had | been resoled and heeled in rough-and-ready | fashion. Several pairs still bore the names 1 of we'll known New York and London mak- | CTS, while between the heel and sole of one | shoe the name of Helbestern, Paris" was | still clearly to be made out. One dealer said that high priced second | hand shoes actually lasted longer than new | ones sold at about the same price. The best | second hand goods, he claimed, were the cast l offs of wealthy people who would not wear a | shoe rn hour after it had lost its shape, and | consequently the uppers were in many cases really as good as new.
 Another class of people, he said, were regu- lar customers at his shop, whose feet were SO | tender that they could not wear new shoe | under any circumstances, Some of, these unfortunate folks would spend an hour at time in trying on forty or fifty pairs of shoes, until at last they found one exactly suited to the unhappy idiosyncracies of their "poor feet" This particular dealer in discarded understandings does not handle any of the much worn and common lines of second hand goods He buys the shoes just as they are purchased by the wholesale dealer in New York, and keeps two men constantly em- ployed in resoling and Lseling his purchases before retailing them to that eccentric DOT tion of the community whose patronage he Times.
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