The smell of leather and glue are first to welcome customers as they enter Lovell Shoe Repair, 610 Seventh St., Charleston.

A variety of shoelaces, shoe polishes and shoe stains sit within the front counter, a rack of shoe creams in shades of deep orange cognac, light purple cordovan and brilliant red scarlet sat on a tall rack to the side.

From the back of the shop emerged Jane Lovell, 61, owner and sole operator of the Lovell Shoe Repair.

Lovell has operated the repair shop for 33 years, first opening up the business in 1979 on the 700 Block of Monroe Avenue, moving to her current location in 1983.

Lovell said her shop is the only shoe repair shop in Coles County and could not think of any other shops in the surrounding counties.

“There used to she shoe shops probably on every corner, and now there are not,” she said.

Lovell began sewing when she was 16 years old and began working in garment and shoe factories all over the United States at 25.

“I worked in factories across the nation,” she said.

She worked in New Jersey, Georgia, Kentucky and Missouri, and other states where her ex-husband was based for the military. Along the way, she has honed her shoe-repairing skills.

As customers tell her the shoe style they had repaired, Lovell disappears into the back of the shop.

Along the walls, resting on shelves and the floor are the many items Lovell has come to repair over the years: racks of jackets, piles of purses, and shelves of jeans and backpacks.

However, Lovell maintains her main concentration is repairing shoes.

On a wall devoted entirely to three long shelves sit sandals, cowboy boots, steel-toed boots, loafers, slippers, high-heels, tennis shoes and any other type of shoe imaginable, each tagged with a note of the owner’s name, phone number and repair request.

Lovell said she receives about 25 pairs of shoes to repair each day, each of which has a unique issue.

She said she can normally keep up with the orders and that the variety of issues helps to keep the job fun.

“You don’t have the same job every day,” she said as she re-glued the soles of pair of sandals. “Maybe (it’s) heals one day, soles the next, then buckles.”

Scissors, hammers, needles, nails, screws and spools of thread hang on hooks and sit in jars, the tools of her trade. Heavy steel machines rest in the corners of the shop; machines to sand soles down, nail sole together and buff leather and other materials. All of the items are crucial repairing shoes with the best quality possible.

Retrieving a pair of gray Birkenstock sandals, Lovell reemerged from the back to hand Mark Hutti his order.

The pair of sandals would normally cost $130 new, but Lovell charged Hutti $26 for replacing the soles, which she has done several times for the sandals.

Hutti handed her $40 and told her to keep the change.

“She doesn’t charge enough,” he said, insisting the quality of work and service she provides is worth much more.

Hutti said he has come to Lovell innumerable times for his repair needs and greatly appreciated the service.

“I’m a member of the Jane Lovell Fan Club,” he said.

Lovell returned the back of the store and began shortening a leather belt for a Mattoon Police officer.

While manipulating the belt under the needle of the sewing machine, she said she even gets shoe repair orders from former Coles County residents who have moved out of state.

“I have customers who have moved away, some of them are now in Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana; and they mail their shoes,” she said.

Former residents even keep the shoes they need repaired and bring them to Lovell’s shop when they visit the area.

“It’s kind of sad that they are in areas where they can’t get anything done,” she said. “I hope they find someone because I’m not going to be here forever.”

However, Lovell said she has no plans of closing up shop anytime soon.

“I’ll work for as long as I can; until the finger don’t work no more or the brain don’t work no more,” she said.

Tim Deters can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].