Project Profile

As you all know I mis-understood the assignment. Here is my latest attempt. This article is for Good magazine.

“Meet Malcolm Spaulding”

Malcolm Spaulding has been repairing shoes in America since 1977. Initially Mr. Spaulding learned to be a bricklayer in his native country Kingston, Jamaica, but he didn’t like it. His father told him that he had to learn a trade so he moved onto cobbling shoes. In Jamaica, cobblers made more money than bricklayers and the shoe shop’s atmosphere was similar to that of a barbershop. In the shoe shop he listened to men joke, laugh, and tell stories. He journeyed here to Baltimore after his sister saw an ad looking for shoemakers willing to move to America. His first night in America he stayed at the YMCA. He remembers feeling starved all night long. He thought they provided food.

Malcolm’s is located on the corners of W. Fayette Street and Pulaski Street. The building has been a shoe shop for the past 50 years and it’s been Malcolm’s for the past 35 years. Malcolm has customers whom love his work so much that they bring their damaged footwear when they visit Baltimore from New York.

He employees counter workers to take in the shoes, but does all the work himself. He has never done anything else since he started repairing shoes. In the 1970’s and 1980’s shoe shops were everywhere. Now, “Shoe repair is not on top like it used to be,” explains Mr. Spaulding. He exclaims, “People are lucky to find a good shoe maker.” There is only a small amount of shoe repair shops that still exist. He’s hoping that his supplier does not go out of business for the lack of supply and demand. Help a brother out; stop in to see Malcolm to get your shoes hooked up.