Family has a long history of saving soles in Ridgewood

Business celebrates 60 years in village

It’s a family business.

Vincent Barbuto, a shoemaker, came from Italy and opened a shoe repair shop in Paterson, Parker Shoe Repair, 92 years ago. Today, his grandson, Vinnie, owns Quality Shoe Repair in Ridgewood.

“My grandfather owned that Paterson store and the family worked there,” says Vinnie. “My father, two uncles and an aunt. My aunt used to deliver shoes on her bicycle.”

His Uncle Tony, 72, opened stores in Montclair, Cliffside Park, then Paterson on Ellison Street about 30 years ago and is still there.

Vinnie’s father, Frank Barbuto, was 4 years old when he came here from Italy. While growing up, he worked and honed his skills with his father. Drafted into the Korean War, he lost a leg when he was 18 and spent 16 months at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. Soon after he came home, he opened his first shop in Ridgewood at the corner of Franklin and Maple avenues.

“It’s where Corday Cleaners used to be,” says Vinnie. It was two years later that he moved with his brother, Tony, to 18 Oak St., the shop’s location ever since. That was in 1954.

In 1957, he married his wife, Margaret. They had two children, Theresa and Vinnie. A homemaker, Margaret sometimes took Frank his dinner when he worked late.

Margaret took over the bookkeeping and, as the children grew, she worked when needed. She worked first with her husband, Frank, then with her son, dealing with customers at the counter, until she died at 86.

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