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SMALL BUSINESS, From page 1 Candy maven: ���If opening a business were easy, everyone would do it��� PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER DeVARGAS SOLE MAN: John Goli, owner of Quality Shoe Repair and Luggage, repairs a pair of women���s designer shoes at his Henderson shop while others awaiting pick-up sit on a shelf. Goli typically repairs 40 pairs of shoes before lunch. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS KEY Quality Shoe Repair and Luggage, 2642 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, Henderson If you need something fixed ��� anything, really ��� take it to John Goli. Goli owns Quality Shoe Repair and Luggage, a Henderson shop with a somewhat misleading name. He and his workers can easily fix tennis shoes, work boots, suitcases and purses, but they also fix seat belts, lawn chairs, exercise equipment, armchair covers, carpets, bras and sofas. ���Dogs help us out,��� Goli said. ���They eat everything in sight.��� Goli���s ability to fix almost anything has helped him establish a solid base of individual and corporate clients, including service workers, dry cleaners and airlines. His store, which opened in June 2007, repairs more than 100 pairs of shoes a day and brings in more than $30,000 a month, he said. Goli attributes his success to heavy advertising and 18 20130325_VI01_F.indd 18 sometimes quirky campaigns. During his first two years in operation, Goli spent more than $3,000 a month on advertising. He still spends more than $1,000 monthly and has a fleet of cars that he transformed into giant shoes bearing the store���s name, phone number and services. One car is a yellow high heel with the license plate ���HIGHEEL.��� Goli has been repairing shoes for 40 years. He had a jaw-dropping work ethic even as a teenager. He delivered newspapers before school, rode the bus to a cousin���s shoe-repair shop to work after school, came home for dinner, then worked nights at a grocery store. In 1973, when Goli was 16, he bought a shoe-repair store near Los Angeles International Airport from his uncle. Within six years, he owned a four-store chain. In 1979, he bought Quality Shoes, a high-grossing shop in L.A. and focused on that location. Goli sold two of his older stores, closed a third and kept the fourth running for a few years before he sold that, too. He operated Quality Shoes until 2005, when he sold it and retired to Southern Nevada. But Goli, who doesn���t gamble or play golf, got bored and decided to open a repair store in his new hometown. The store opens at 7:30 a.m. weekdays, but Goli gets in at 6 a.m. He repairs 40 pairs of shoes before lunch, while listening to Middle Eastern or Latin music. ���It hypes me up,��� he said. Wally���s, 3290 Pinks Place, Las Vegas Wally Korhonen has been working on cars for so long that some of his first customers��� grandchildren now bring their vehicles to him. Korhonen specializes in Hondas and Acuras, having worked on Hondas since 1963. He opened a 1,000-square-foot repair shop in 1982 and recruited wife Bobbie to answer phones. Six years later, he moved to his current location, a 7,500-squarefoot garage on Pinks Place. | 25 MARCH 2013 | 3/21/13 3:20:08 PM