SALISBURY — When it came down to it, all Pat Weddington wanted was a hand-stitcher and a polisher to help with repairs he sometimes had to make to shoes he and his wife were selling on eBay.

Megan Boisvert, the fifth generation to run the shop, noted that the store’s business used to be 70% retail and 30% repairs.

The grown-up customers walk in clutching their grown-up wallets and purses, wearing their grown-up suits and work uniforms, talking their grown-up talk about the kids and the job. They leave pouting, ...

To walk into Al's Shoe Service at the Mount Prospect Metra station is to step back in time. The walls remind customers and visitors of the rich history of a business that began when Al DeAngelo opened ...