by Chris Conte
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - Time has slowly ticked through Brentwood, changing the landscape of the center of the city, but there is one fixture that hasn't changed a bit over the last 20 years.
"When I started work this, across the street was empty. It was like woods, now it's a shopping center," said Gregory Sorin.
In the last 20 years, Brentwood's population has doubled and for every new person there are two new feet.
"Right now I need to change the whole bottom of this shoe," Gregory explained on Monday afternoon.
The 64-year-old works out of an old building on East Church Street; he's surrounded by aging machines, old soles and too many shoes to count. He's part of a trade that is slowly fading away as a cobbler.
"I like to make people happy," Gregory adds.
As an engineer from Russia he came here two decades ago in search of something better. Engineering jobs, though, were nowhere to be found, and with two daughters and a wife at home, not working wasn't an option. His English wasn't great either so he just started repairing shoes.
"Sometimes I'm so busy I don't open the door, but I work on Sundays too (when he's closed). I work for myself, for my family," he said while repairing a black dress shoe.
Years of hard labor have helped put his two daughters through college and kept his business afloat. None of this is lost on his family.
"I love him to death, he sent me to the most amazing schools and gave us a great education and it was all from fixing shoes," his daughter Lana says.
Next of kin though aren't the only ones who appreciate the seasoned hands of a cobbler.
"You can count on him, he's here. He's here," one customer noted.
A typical repair costs $58, and some of these shoes he's seen four or maybe five times. And while the city has changed all around him, the "sole" of his business has remained the same.
