In a time filled with \u201cend of eras,\u201d Thursday afternoon was just a minor blip on the scale. But for people in the New Kensington area with shoes that need to be fixed, it was a major event. Gene Montemurro, savior of worn shoes, closed his Gene\u2019s Shoe Repair on Fifth Avenue and retired after 66 years.<\/p>\n
Mr. Montemurro, 83, decided to call it quits last summer after two masked teens robbed him of $300 and threw him to the floor. \u201cThank God they didn\u2019t hurt me,\u201d he said. \u201cMoney is no problem, money is OK, but if you hurt somebody or kill somebody, that\u2019s a different story.\u201d His family had been suggesting he retire for some time, but the June robbery was the final straw. There were four unsuccessful robbery attempts at his shop in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love what he does, and that\u2019s something we have told people his entire life,\u201d grandson Bill Wareham said. \u201cHis story is such a unique story of perseverance and prosperity. But as great as the story is, we have to know he\u2019s safe. That\u2019s where the family draws the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Montemurro doesn’t retire without regret. \u201cMy business is like one big family,\u201d he said. \u201cI love my customers, and they love me. That\u2019s why they are so loyal.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a time filled with \u201cend of eras,\u201d Thursday afternoon was just a minor blip on the scale. But for people in the New Kensington area with shoes that need to be fixed, it was a major event. Gene Montemurro, savior of worn shoes, closed his Gene\u2019s Shoe Repair on Fifth Avenue and retired after 66 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15,187],"tags":[],"coauthors":[52],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/06\/20150630radCobblerLocal03-2.jpg?fit=2600%2C1779&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2166,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161\/revisions\/2166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2161"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}