The last shoe repair shop in the Illinois Valley, Tino’s Shoe & Boot Repair in Ottawa, shuttered after 40 years this past October.

Original owner Tino Rubio ran the shop until he died in 2023 at age 71. He previously told The Daily Times that when he was 36 years old, he was one of the few shoe repairmen in La Salle County. When learning the trade as a teen, he would walk past nine other shoe repair shops on his way to work. Rubio said other shops ceased to exist because the owners failed to pass their craft down to younger people.

Rubio passed his craft to his grandson, Tyler Ahrendsen, who carried on the store following his death.

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