NORWALK, Conn. Get your shoes, please.
That's what Joe Ancona was telling customers Thursday as an era neared its end in Norwalk. After nearly 43 years of working at his Economy Shoe Repair, located at 511 ½ West Ave., he is moving out next week. The wrecking crew is practically next door, and time has run out.
Norwalk's "shoe guy" is being evicted to make way for the Waypointe development. Ancona had until Dec. 15 to get out, but he was given an informal extension to Dec. 31. He has had some rough days, but after much deliberation, Ancona has accepted an offer from Seligson Properties and will rent space at the Butler Building, just behind the gas station at Butler Street and West Avenue. He said his lease will be month-to-month and when Waypointe is built, he will be back in business on West Avenue.
Tuesday is moving day. "It might be a week or two before I get back into operation," he said. "I don't know because they still have work to do over there."
It's been a rocky road. Paxton Kinol, a managing director for Belpointe Capital, partner in the project with Seligson, initially assured Ancona that he would get space next door in Loehmann's Plaza. But that fell through, weeks before Ancona was expected to leave.
Ancona found a space on Wall Street, but it was significantly more expensive and carried a three-year commitment. The 31-page lease was intimidating.
His space in the Butler Building carries the same rent he has been paying for years, which he knows he can meet.
A professional crew will move him out of the space he has known all of his life and into the Butler Building. The space will be modified to his specifications. A professional crew will also move him back to West Avenue, when Waypointe is done. He won't pay for any of it.
Ancona, who was looking distraught two weeks ago, was relaxed Thursday as he pounded new heel pads onto women's pumps, in the store his father started more than 80 years ago. His last day there is Saturday.
"I'm happy," he said. "I'm not stressed out anymore."
Demolition on the long-delayed development was progressing down the street, with the church next to the El Chipotle Deli being turned into rubble. The building had been "rocking" Wednesday, and the phone service had cut out thanks to the demolition. But the wires were rerouted, and Ancona was free to tell callers where he would be.
He had good thoughts about Kinol.
"He was fair," Ancona said. "When we lost the spot at Loehmann's Plaza, that kind of threw a monkey wrench into things. But he's been more than fair and generous in what he wants to do for me."
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