Cobblers is part of Northcliff’s history – and still goes strong after Covid

“Sure, ma’am! We can fix it, ma’am!” Whether you need new soles for a pair of well-worn boots, the replacement of a tog bag zip, hand-stitching to a leather pouf, even new taps for your child’s tap shoes – at the shoe repair shop, Cobblers, in Northcliff Junction, Johannesburg, you will invariably get the “can do” answer to all your inquiries.

The owner here is Rashida Hassam. Ably assisted by fellow cobbler Norman Teefu in the workshop, and husband Essop (better known as Jeff) – who, among other things, services sewing machines and cuts or replaces keys – this enterprising woman has established herself as a formidable entrepreneur, with an admirable service ethic, for the past 40 years.

Praises sung on Google and community chat groups attest to this.

• “A fantastic job on my boots that no one else could fix.”
• “Great owners who know their business.”
• “Shoe repairs and handbag alterations, all very well done. Inexpensive, too.”
• “Exceptional service, always!”
• “Very knowledgeable and always helpful.”

Those are just some of the reviews. Not surprising, therefore, that one of the smallest shops in the centre, Cobblers, is also one of the busiest.

Filled to the brim with shoes, bags, boxes, buckles, leather items, machines, you name itoften customers must patiently wait their turn to be served. But they do so happily, knowing it will be worth their while.

Rashida started out in her youth with a stint of 13 years at a motor firm in downtown Johannesburg, mainly as an invoice clerk. But she decided to quit when the couple’s second child, Fatima, was born in 1978 with a hare lip and cleft palate.

“The doctors told me that she would have to undergo a series of operations, so I decided to stay home to tend my daughter,” she says. “However, having been homebound for two years, I realised that I simply am not a stay-at-home spouse, that I sorely missed communicating with people. So, I asked my husband to buy me a small business.”

This led them to a newspaper advertisement selling a shop that would become Cobblers – then known as Roma Heel Bar in Northcliff.

“I took out a small bond on our house in Lenasia and bought the shop in 1982,” Hassam recalls.

She not only had to learn the art of shoe making, from scratch, but had to build up a clientele. It happened “not by advertising, but by word of mouth,” she says. She became a friend and confidante to many.

“Many women told me about their husbands and men about their wives. I never commented, I just listened,” she chuckles.

Tellingly, right from the outset, Hassam has always had at least one deaf cobbler in her employ.

“I’ve trained many deaf people and to this day, the first deaf cobbler, Victor, from time to time still comes in to help out.”

It has been working on the various kinds of dancing shoes – tap shoes, ballroom dancing shoes, Irish dancing shoes – she has found most rewarding.

In addition, schools are staunch Cobblers supporters, often presenting her with a load of choir or sports bags which need to be fixed urgently. At times a daunting challenge, she stresses.

And yes, from time to time, she does come across a difficult customer who vows to never set foot in this shop again. However, a few months later, they’re back.

Post Covid, Cobblers is back on track and at 72 years of age, quitting is nowhere on Hassam’s radar.

“Age is all in the mind,” she muses. Like with good shoes.

– news@citizen.co.za