Melbourne family-owned shoe business Schumacher Shoes is closing down after 60 years of trade.
Similar to most retail sectors, Schumacher has felt the impact of online disruption and high rent prices.
“Nobody is interested in buying shoe shops. When we started it was a highly sought-after trade,” Monty Rudov from Schumacher said.
Schumacher sold high quality shoes and boots imported from Italy, France and Portugal among others. The business had a reputation for selling quality shoes and this was appreciated by the many customers the company saw over the years.
“A customer came in and said to me: 'your mother forced me in to buying shoes! I was in university and it took me a long time to pay it off, but it was the best thing I ever did',” Rudov said.
Schumacher came to be in 1959 after Rudov's mother and father retired and closed their Collins St dress salon, Christine Bradley. They wanted to retain a portion of the business, so converted the dress salon into a shoe shop.
After many arguments with his mother, Rudov's father came out of retirement and worked in the store for the last 11 years of his life.
“When he died, my brother and I took it over. Now they've [brother and mother] passed away, I am the sole member of the family left interested in keeping it flowing,” Rudov said.
Rudov explained that running the store is becoming a tiring effort and that it's time to give it a miss. He is 83 years old and has experienced the struggles the business has fought against over the years.
“I remember when we were selling dozens of boots per week, but it got harder and harder as the years went by. I get a lot of people coming in and saying: 'sorry that you're leaving',” he said.
The store is holding a closing down sale and Rudov suspects that they'll see out the end of June before closing permanently.
“I wish Melbourne all the best without us,” he said.