Business owner remains hopeful after fire

Wayne Johnson is one of six small-business owners who lost their shops in the early hours of Dec. 17 when a fire gutted the strip mall that housed their shops.

An overheated heat tape around a downspout is the suspected cause of the blaze.

What remains of the mall, at the corner of Best Avenue and Fourth Street in Coeur d’Alene, is now behind a chain-link fence, locked while insurance investigators complete their work.

That prevents Johnson from determining the full extent of his losses or reclaiming his tools and most of the inventory he could use to re-establish his Lake City Shoe Repair/North Idaho Pedorthic Service.

He explains that “pedorthic” describes his service that has provided shoes to diabetics and others in need of special footwear.

Furthermore, Johnson relates sadly, he let his insurance lapse about six months ago.

So how does a small-business owner get through a predicament like that?

In Johnson’s case, by delivering newspapers, tapping his wife Kristin’s salary as a part-time teacher’s aide, gifts from customers and friends, and a wry sense of humor.

“I’ve had Christmas and New Year’s off,” he jokes, “but I’d better not have a Valentine’s Day holiday.”

Johnson and his business – one of only two shoe repair shops in the Lake City – have been Coeur d’Alene fixtures since 1979, when he and his family moved here from Heyburn in southern Idaho via a detour to Utah, where he learned his trade.

A family that eventually grew to nine as Kristin gave birth to seven children sent Johnson in search of supplementary income, so he began delivering The Spokesman-Review in 1983.

He says he’s lucky he’s retained that job, even though it requires he work from 2 to 3 a.m., seven days a week, to deliver about 200 papers to residences near his home in west Coeur d’Alene’s Northshire Subdivision.

If this were summer he’d be working even harder, for he delivers about 115 newspapers by boat every Sunday to homeowners on Lake Coeur d’Alene’s shores.

Johnson estimates the inventory of special shoes stranded in his shop at from $3,000 to $4,000. But he’s lucky, he said, that workers for the firm that secures the burned-out mall were able to remove about 25 customers’ shoes and 34 pairs of the special shoes.

“That’s all they were able to reach, unfortunately, and we won’t be able to get into the shop until just before it’s demolished. We’re trying to get the smoke smell out of them now.”

That smell doesn’t bode well for reclaiming his equipment, Johnson said.

“Even if it isn’t too badly damaged, the people that rent shop space won’t want that odor in their property,” he explains.

So, he’s looking for used equipment in Boise, Seattle and Salt Lake City that he estimates may cost him up to $10,000.

His search for shop space is frustrating, too, as he explains he’ll probably not be able to rent for anywhere near the $750 he paid his former landlords each month.

A member of the Mormon Church’s Coeur d’Alene Stake, he said he hasn’t asked the church itself for help, “but individual members have been generous, and several of my old customers have handed me checks to help tide us over until we’re up and running again.

“I can’t tell you how surprised and grateful we are for their kindness.”

Considering his losses, Johnson remains relatively sanguine.

“The gifts we’ve received are a reminder of just how nice most people are,” he said.

And since he, Kristin and 15-year-old Derek are the only Johnsons left in their home, he doesn’t have to worry about providing for their whole brood.

“Things will be fine if the investigation moves along quickly and I can get at my stuff,” he said. “If it’s slow, I may run out of money.

“But I think we’ll be OK. I’m telling my customers, ‘Save your shoes, and give me a call in two weeks.’ “