Jimmy Chiprean of Miller's Shoes shows off a new pair of shoes. The store has been closed since January after sustaining damage from fire in an adjacent building.

After a more than six month long hiatus due to damage and repairs from a fire in January, the nearly 130-year-old Miller's Shoes store in downtown Butler is open for business again.

Jimmy Chiprean, of Miller's Shoes at 215 S. Main St., said that the store had a soft opening in early September and is already busy.

“Business has been pretty good,” he said. “Things have been going real well. We're very glad to have our patrons back. A lot of people have waited for us to this point, and they've been coming in pretty steady.”

Repairing and restoring Miller's after the fire, he said, was “a major undertaking.”

“We had to do lighting, roofs, and HVAC, and just general cleaning,” he said. He described how Zehr Restoration of Meadville had taken thousands of pairs of shoes out of the store to clean and remove the smoke after the fire.

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