by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
Though the shoeshine market in Jacksonville is fairly small, one leather buffing company is trying to corner the downtown market.
Ralph Scott, owner of Just Leather, a shoeshine and leather repair company, plans to open several shoeshine stands downtown.
“Hopefully, I would like to corner the market from Forsyth Street to the Landing,” he said.
Scott currently owns two shoeshine stands in separate buildings on West Forsyth Street. Scott has been operating his original stand in the lobby of the Bank of America tower for three years. His other stand is in the lobby of the Forsyth Building (formerly the SunTrust building) on the corner of Forsyth and Hogan streets. Scott bought the second stand about a month ago and leases it to shine man Gary Mathews.
Scott said his next shoeshine stand will be built in the lobby of Independent Square. He plans to have the stand set up by January. Scott would also like to open stands in the Landing and the Wachovia building.
“I am hoping it will get to the point where you see Just Leather all around town,” he said. “I am just trying to make it convenient for everyone so they don’t have to walk or drive too far for a good shoe shine.”
Scott said each of his new stands will be operated under the Just Leather name but will be leased to individual shoeshiners.
Scott said his long term goal includes setting up stands in downtown hotels and clubs, but he doesn’t want to stretch himself too thin.
Even though he plans to corner the market, Scott said he does not want to create enmity between Just Leather and the other shoeshine and leather repair businesses downtown.
“There is no animosity between us,” he said. “I respect what they do because we all do the same thing. We provide a service to the public. I just think that I do a better job.”
By spreading his business across town Scott would like to see more customers, especially more female customers, he said.
“Ladies have hundreds of shoes,” he said. “I would like to see the ladies have their shoes shined and repaired rather than go out and get a new pair.”
Women currently represent about 20 percent of his customers,
but after his new stands are built, Scott said that percentage should rise.
Scott moved to Jacksonville about 10 years ago and began shining shoes. Now that he has owned and operated the shoeshine stand in the Bank of America tower for the past three years, Scott said he has figured out the secret to the shoe shining business — patience.
“You just have to have patience and you just have to be there,” he said. “There is a lot of down time. You just have to be there and be patient.”
Scott said it took him two years to get established at the
Bank of America tower stand, but he now has a lot of repeat customers. He hopes the same will happen for the shoeshiners at his other stands.
“It will take some time to build up business because people are going to have to realize that we are there everyday and that we do good work.”