Miller's Shoes store open again after fire
After a more than six-month 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 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 up 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.
Now that repairs have been finished, Chiprean said that the store still looks a lot like the same business shoppers have visited for multiple generations.
“It's pretty much the same store. Everything's a lot brighter now, and it's nice and clean, but you'll recognize the store. Everything's pretty much as usual.”
The store has been owned by the Chiprean family for many years. Chiprean is planning a grand reopening sale and celebration for the store's 130th anniversary in the middle of October.“Not too many stores make it to 130 years,” Chiprean said. “We've been recognized several times for it in those years. We're just happy to be back on Main Street and seeing our people again.”Chiprean said that some families in Butler have shopped at the store for three or four generations.“We have first baby shoes, and a lot of the grandmas still bring kids up here for that,” he said. “Some of our suppliers have been with us for 100 years.”The most obvious effect of COVID-19 on the store, he said, has been the addition of plastic barriers, but ongoing supply shortages have also had an impact.“We're having a lot of trouble getting merchandise right now because of shipping,” he said. “It's not just me. It's every retail establishment in the U.S. right now.”However, he assured potential customers that shelves are fully stocked and the grand reopening will feature plenty of shoes.
COVID-19 has also changed the way people shop at the store, he said.“There's a lot of activity now in the downtown area, a lot of activity coming back around,” he said. “But it's not so much people coming just to look. The people who are coming are usually here to buy.”Chiprean said there were still a few window-shoppers who will stop in and not realize the store was open and that things are “trying to get back to normal.”“We want to thank everybody for all their support during the fire,” he said. “A lot of people were praying for us that the family would be OK. Everybody is fine, and we're open again, so come on down and see us. We're a lot brighter than we used to be.”
