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July 10, 2008 - The Old Soft Shoe recently held a Blairsville-Union Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony. Friends, family, chamber ambassadors, and members of the business community joined with owners to celebrate the occasion.

Owner Ernesto Couto was happy to introduce his mentor and friend, Sergio Soares, during the grand opening. Couto says, “Sergio taught me all about the shoe repair business. I trained with him over a course of 25 years down in Miami.” He adds, “Now that I have my own shop, I can offer services such as shoe repairs, leather repairs, shoe stretching and waterproofing to the people of Union County. We have the machines to stitch most types of leather goods including boots, shoes, belts, handbags, hats, luggage, coats, and backpacks.”

Ernesto has stocked the shoe and leather repair shop with quality merchandise including belts, wallets, money clips, ladies bags, gloves, biker wear, leather vests, Frost Cutlery, pocket knives, sunglasses, kiwi polishes, Meltonian products, laces, dyes, orthopedic insoles, leather cleaning products, leather protectors, and shoe trees. The Old Soft Shoe should be the first stop when looking for that special gift.

The Old Soft Shoe already has a following of satisfied customers. One repeat customer dropped by to pick up his wife’s Luiviton bag and was extremely pleased with the new stitching. He says, “My wife will be glad to have her favorite handbag back.” Guests at the grand opening watched as an old scruffy pair of worn-out cowboy boots turned into a great looking pair of shoes. Do not even consider throwing out those favorite old leather items – take them to Ernesto at the Old Soft Shoe!

Ernesto and Cary Couto have lived in the Coosa area of Union County for three years. Cary is currently Billing Coordinator at Dr. Wendy Smith’s office. They have two sons, Michael and Anthony. Anthony is a graduate of UCHS and is enrolled in the Computer Information Systems program at North Georgia Technical College. Michael is a student at UCHS. Both sons help in the Old Soft Shoe whenever time allows. (The Old Soft Shoe is family owned and operated.)