The last cobbler on Murray Street

Steve’s grandfather was a CPR train engineer. He liked this stretch of Port Moody enough that decades later, he bought Steve the building where his shop still stands today. Inside, it feels like it’s been quietly resisting time for fifty years — a Civil War print on the wall, an antique till, a workbench worn smooth by use.

Steve’s own path to the trade wasn’t a straight line. Before he ever picked up a boot, he worked the gold department at an optical lab, spent time as a cutter for well-known boot brands, and served as a Royal Canadian Army engineer. Somewhere in there, he found his way to leather — learning the trade the hard way, the kind of apprenticeship that barely exists anymore.

“People are tending to get stuff fixed because it fits,” he told us, gesturing at a row of shoes waiting for repair — some worth a thousand dollars. In a culture built to replace rather than repair, that’s almost a small act of rebellion. He’s busier than he expected to be, running the shop essentially alone.

What to watch next: Port Moody has a lot of new buildings going up. It’s easy to miss the ones that were already here, quietly holding the line.