Well-known Kendal store reopens following expansion (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Well-known Kendal store reopens following expansion

12:29pm Friday 5th February 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

A KENDAL store that has been a feature of the town for almost 40 years has had an expansion and refurbishment.

John and Mark Matthews, a father and son team that run The Cobbler John store, have been able to expand their Kirkland shop significantly by building an extension on the back.

This enabled them to move their shoe repair workshop into the rear extension and transform all of the original building into a larger shop.

The shop was started by John in 1972 as a shoe repair business. But as time went on he diversified into selling other leather products such as his popular designer handbags.

“I started as a traditional cobbler but the way things went with the shoe trade they became cheaper with imports so people were throwing them away rather than getting them repaired,” he said. “I had to diversify and that allowed me to start selling leather handbags and purses.”

Mr Matthews said the refurbishment means he may be able to stock more brands of handbags on top of the Radley bags he currently retails.

He is also optimistic that the Kirkland enhancement works will help boost trade.

“I don’t think it is going to do us any harm,” he said. “If there is going to be wider pavements it is going to make it look nicer. And once K Shoes is up and running I’m feeling optimistic because it will get more people coming up Kirkland.”