One of Portland’s shoe fiends’ most valued establishments will be going out of business by the end of this year! Rubio himself is retiring after a life spent devoted to enabling you to hold on to your favorite pairs of boots and shoes for as long as possible—the quality ones, mind you. I’ve also had him look very disappointed in me for presenting some thrift finds that were apparently not worth saving. Usually I’d go in there with a big plastic bag of broken candidates, and he’d send me out having tossed most of them away, selecting just one or two that had a shot. In addition to running Rubio’s (115 SW Ash), he was also the go-to guy for customers of Halo (1425 NE Broadway). Luckily, he and the shop will still be in business until the winter time, so don’t put off those repairs too much longer. Coincidentally, I have another big plastic bag sitting on my dresser all ready to go.

Um, if you wear a European 36 1/2 and want to buy these crazy vintage witchy shoes, I found them at Erueka, I Found It!