It all began in Lebanon…

Fred was the first in his family to specialize in cobbling. Born in Lebanon, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1957 in order to work and take advantage of “the land of opportunity.” While his father was a taxi driver, Fred developed a unique talent for cobbling. When he arrived in Peoria, Illinois, it was a booming industrial town with a large population of Lebanese immigrants. Initially he was doing work for various shoe repair shops before he eventually found a steady job at the old Bergner’s department store in downtown Peoria.

Back then, Bergner’s housed nine other cobblers in its basement, a far cry from today, when repairs are consigned to specialty shops like Fred’s and a very few others in the area. In these times, when disposability trumps durability, it’s easy to forget that a large department store once held a fully functioning shop dedicated to such reclamation. Here in the store’s basement, Fred’s sons Ray and Anthony came to immerse himself in his father’s trade.