Julie Derrick doesn’t see trash in a pair of old shoes — she sees a challenge, and an opportunity.

“My grandparents didn’t throw anything away. You fix things,” she said, sorting through the bin piled with dress shoes, Ugg boots and clogs in JD’s Shoe Repair, a shop she recently opened in Baker City.

She grew up with family who worked in hands-on trades — her grandfather was a farrier, and her uncle worked in upholstery.

Derrick, 58, grew up near Orofino, a small rural town in northern Idaho east of Lewiston.

She moved to Portland in 1989. Although she wanted to work in a trade, she didn’t enter the shoe repair business — learning to be a cobbler — until her mid-30s.

“It just stuck in my mind and I didn’t let go of it,” she said. “It’s the trade for me.”

She got a job in a shoe repair shop and set about learning the skills to attach new soles, stitch leather and polish shoes.

Although YouTube is full of how-to videos now, Derrick said she valued the chance to learn her skills in a real-life shoe shop.

“There’s nothing that replaces face-to-face, hands-on learning,” she said.

In 2008, she was laid off from that job, and decided to open her own shop.

She opened JD’s Shoe Repair in 2009 in Portland, and operated for the last seven years on Greeley Avenue.

And that’s where she worked until this year, when she closed that store and moved to Baker City.

JD’s Shoe Repair, 2306 Broadway St., is open at times now, and Derrick is available by appointment by calling 503-287-7078. She will start regular hours in October, open Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Derrick will return to Portland about once a month for a “shoe intake” day, but return to Baker City to complete the repair work.

“I spent a long time building up a loyal customer base,” she said. “I’m trying to do a hybrid — I have customers and family there, but my main place is Baker.”

Her decision to move followed the death of her 19-year-old son, Arthur, in January 2023.

“It makes you reevaluate your whole existence,” she said.

Her mom and sister moved from Idaho to Baker City, and she soon followed.

“It’s quiet. I love it here,” she said. “Baker has been so welcoming. A really sweet place to be.”

Repairs galore
In just an hour, Derrick shined a pair of dress shoes and added new laces, conditioned the leather of clogs and touched up the black trim, and inspected a leather patch job on a pair of Ugg boots.

“A pair like these can last you all your adult life,” she said, running a dress shoe under the polishing machine.

If she had to pick a favorite, it would be sturdy work boots.

“I’m crazy about work boots. I love things that are structurally sound,” she said.

As for easy repairs, she said Birkenstocks top that list.

“Birkenstocks you can repair all day long,” she said.

But not many cobblers repair Doc Martens.

“You have to completely cut the sole off,” she said. “People mail us Doc Martens from everywhere.”

(That part of her business was boosted, she said, by a story and YouTube video by Business Insider.)

In Portland, Derrick employed three to four workers. Now it’s just her.

“I’m just myself again, like when I first started,” she said.

Her shop is full of equipment she’s collected over the years, some from other cobblers who closed up shop.

“You pick up pieces here and there,” she said.

She doesn’t just fix shoes — she can repair purses, belts, bags, backpacks, stuffed animals, dog toys and more.

“I love doing zippers,” she said with a smile. “The variety of things that can be repaired is vast. Before you throw things away, talk to a cobbler.”

A full list of her repair services can be found at jdshoerepair.com.