Business Buzz: A Century of Shoes
Sole Providers – DeVito Shoes celebrates 100 years in business this year. The DeVito family, from left — Johnny, Vince, Joel, Shelley and Mat. Vince and Shelley opened the Nelson shop after his father Francis talked him out of work at a Kaslo sawmill. For $600, the couple purchased their original shoe tools and machinery from a Clearbrook repair shop slated to close. (Darren Davidson)
Nelson Star columnist Darren Davidson breaks down happenings in our region’s business community each month in the pages of the local weekly newspaper. The Business Buzz is an entertaining and informative read that helps keep you in-the-know.
Here’s an excerpt from the April offering. You can read the entire Business Buzz that includes the two below bits, a new hospitality program at Selkirk College, a Capitol Theatre fashion show, Whitewater Mountain Resort’s wrap on 50 and upcoming Chamber projects at the Nelson Star website.
Grandkids Taking Footwear to New Level
What a run it’s been for the DeVito family.
DeVito Shoes, founded in Trail by Vincenzo DeVito, is celebrating a century of cobbler craftsmanship this year.
“The legacy is tremendous, and the pride is incredible,” says Vince, who’s since passed on the laces to sons Mat, Joel and Johnny. “My grandfather would be most impressed to see where we are today.”
Vince and his wife Shelley opened the Nelson shop on April Fool’s Day, 1980. Opening the DeVito Boot Company in 2024, which specializes in forest industry footwear, both businesses are keeping the entire family employed — and busy.
“Shoe repair grows in tough economic times,” says Vince. “Having everybody in here, all the family working here and living here, we couldn’t ask for a better situation. And the future is extremely bright.
“The succession and the legacy is quite unheard of in this day and age.”
Downtown Cornerstone Full of Wonder
From abacus to xylophones, baby books to solar-powered Tyrannosaurus robots, Nelson’s Secret Garden Toys has been helping kids stay kids since the spring of ’86.
Jim and Letty Bartels opened the store back when Rubik’s Cubes and Cabbage Patchers ruled. Since then, with Jim having passed on, the Bartels kids – Willow, Leo, Hayden, Minka and Avery — are co-owners. Manager Bill White, with the store for over 20 years, says the secret to the shop’s longevity comes from local shoppers and the fact that staying a kid is cool.
“I think what it is, is that people vote with their dollars, they visit us for birthdays, Christmas… they come all year round,” White says. “One of our main goals is to hold on to the uniqueness of being young. There’s a big push nowadays to grow up so fast.”
With adults looking to stay connected to their inner-young’un, White says it’s not unusually to see an 18-year-old come in for a stuffed toy, for example.
“And you know what, I say, ‘you do you,’” he adds.
Secret Garden has managed 1,500 square feet of toys in the same location — 455 Ward St. — the entire 40 years.
