Geneva shoe repair store owner uses passion for leatherwork to build life in America

GENEVA – Hossein Shakouri leaned on his hands at the counter of his shoe repair store on East State Street in Geneva and repeated his motto: “Feet happy, body happy.”

He held a pair of coral, slingback pumps above the counter and mimed how he wrapped the backs of the heels in leather to repair the gnawing marks from a dog that got ahold of the shoes.

Shakouri has gained the reputation of a skilled craftsman during his 10 years in Geneva. His store, Greg’s Shoe Repair, at 722 E. State St., has been recognized for the past six years in the Kane County Chronicle’s Best Of The Fox Readers’ Choice Awards.

Shakouri’s relationship with shoes started more than 30 years ago in his home country, Iran, when he was trained by his older brother in the art of shoemaking. According to Shakouri, apprenticeships in Iran can take as long as 10 years, but he finished in just one and a half.

“I finished everything because I love my job; I love shoes,” he said.

Shakouri designed women’s shoes in his home country but took three years off to serve in the Iranian military in the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s, he said.

He was focused on his work for several years before he met his wife, Shirin Klingerman.

After a courtship process involving family and friends and approval from both parties, Shakouri married Klingerman. They had three children in Iran.

Klingerman said her father was the coroner for the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran, when she was a child, which meant she was a citizen of the United States. When the embassy closed in 1979, Klingerman’s father returned to the United States.

In 2001, the family fled to Austria to find an embassy that could help them get to the United States.

Shakouri said he loved his country but thought the United States would be a better place to raise a family and for his children to get adequate schooling. Klingerman also had a desire to see her father. The family, however, would find out he died by the time they tried to find him.

A journey to the states

At a refugee camp in Austria, the Shakouris met a former pastor at First Baptist Church in Geneva, Kevin Engel.

“At the time, Austria was the easternmost country of the European Union, so at that time, it was very common for smugglers to drop refugees off on a highway in Austria,” Engel said.

Engel met Shakouri when the pastor volunteered at a refugee camp in Austria. Engel distributed clothes to families – some waiting three to four hours in line. Engel briefly spoke to Shakouri and Klingerman the day they met, but during the course of about six months, the two families became friends.

“Well, in my role at the time, I’d served thousands of refugees at the camp, but this is one of those unique families that I’ve developed a friendship with,” Engel said. “We remain friends to this day.”

During the next three years, Engel interacted with the Shakouris and helped them arrange passage to the United States.

Initially, Klingerman traveled to the states alone because of her citizenship. She stayed with a family friend in Naperville until she could apply for a visa for her spouse and family. Shakouri joined her less than a year later with their three sons, Amir, Kamyab and Aryan Shakouri.

A proud history

On an afternoon in his store, Shakouri rummaged behind the counter and slid a thin frame from between two shelves. He pointed to a painting, gilded in gold, of a Persian king and his wife.

“You know King Cyrus?” he said.

King Cyrus was the emperor of the Persian Empire from about 559 B.C. until 530 B.C. He was known for creating the first Charter of Human Rights and exercising benevolence to people of different religious beliefs and races, especially the Jews.

Shakouri used King Cyrus as a positive reflection of his country’s deeply rooted culture, which is sometimes forgotten because of violence in the region.

“This is my country; this is my culture. This isn’t what people look at. People look at the Middle East as shooting, fighting, killing … not true. This is my country,” Shakouri said.

Shakouri and his family joined First Baptist Church in Geneva when they came to the states. The congregation and Engel helped the family get settled in America and eventually helped connect Shakouri with Greg’s Shoe Repair.

On the same recent afternoon in the store, Shakouri pointed to a leather-bound, forest green book with gold writing on the cover.

“Some people in the United States think my country is an Arabic country. We do not speak Arabic. … The culture is different,” he said.

Shakouri said the book on the desk was the Bible, written in Farsi. He flipped to the table of contents page. Next to the Farsi symbols, someone had printed the names of the books of the Bible in English.

“In Bible study, the pastor would say go to Job, but I would say, ‘Who’s Job?’ ” Shakouri said. “We call it [phonetically] ‘Aye-oob’ … my friend put Job here so I can find it.”

A new vocation

After a short time working at Greg’s, Shakouri noticed the similarities between shoe repair and designing shoes, which allowed him to extend his repairing abilities to purses, luggage and other leather goods.

Karen Davis, a longtime employee of Greg’s Shoe Repair, remembered a day when a woman brought in a Coach patchwork purse that had been chewed by a dog.

“I thought, ‘There’s no way he can fix it,’ ” Davis said. “But when he fixed that Coach purse, I couldn’t even tell – that’s how well it was fixed.”

Klingerman said her husband is creative in his trade because he originally designed shoes made of leather.

“I love leather most. I know how much leather is good for people. Most people don’t know … feet have a good relationship with leather. Feet love leather; feet hate plastic,” Shakouri said.

Six years ago, Shakouri bought the store from the original owner, Greg Herwaldt, when he retired. Shakouri credits much of his success in owning his own business to a love of people and animals and a desire to make them happy.

Earlier this summer, local horseman Daryl Paddock approached Shakouri with a challenge to construct a new shoe for a pony with uneven legs at Casey’s Safe Haven horse rescue in Elburn.

After two fittings, Shakouri was able to create a shoe that fixed the pony’s limping walk.

Shakouri’s leather skills are not limited to horse and human shoes. Paddock has noted Shakouri’s skill with working on horse tack – saddles, bridles, stirrup leathers and other leather equipment.

“Being a person that owns horses, you know how important your tack is,” Paddock said. “And if you can’t find someone to fix it, sometimes you just have to throw it away.”

Although Shakouri had never fixed horse tack before, his willingness and skill in leatherwork allows him to meet unique challenges of diverse leatherworking projects.

“Before 25 years ago, I was just making shoes. But now, because I love my job, I fix everything,” Shakouri said. “Sometimes customers bring here something I’ve never seen, and I say, ‘No problem, I can fix that.’ ”

Shakouri’s dedication to his work keeps him in the store for long hours, sometimes 20 hours a day. He remembers visiting a leather factory in Elgin on weekends when he worked for Greg to find straps to match a purse in need of repair. Now, he stays in the store until late to finish projects for his customers.

“One thing about Hossein is I’ve never met anyone before who is so focused on a goal,” said Engel, the former pastor. “Hossein’s dream was to always own his own shoe business, and now he’s a very good, proud business owner.”

The only thing Shakouri wants, is to be able to spend more time with his family, which has grown since he came to the United States. Two years after they came to America, Shakouri and Klingerman had a daughter, Pardis Shakouri.

“I’m working 20 hours a day. I get three hours of sleep, but I’m never tired because I love my family,” Shakouri said.