Lismore Shoes has opened its doors in The Village, Goonellabah.

New shop but a familiar face in very unusual times.

Kevin Cox used to own Lismore Shoes in Keen Street until earlier this year when he decided that the CBD was not the best location for a shoe store.

"In my opinion the CBD is dying", Kevin said, "I don't think the council is doing enough to reinvigorate the it"

"The bulk of our clientele lived in Goonellabah anyway", Kevin said, "they used to drive down into town to see us, now they don't have to drive as far".

The store, which opened last Monday, was supposed to open two months ago but a car decided to park itself into his vacant store delaying the fit-out.

As if that wasn't enough, Kevin now has a pandemic to deal with, so it has been an understandably quiet start to his new business.

"We lost everything in the flood of 2017 but managed to re-open downtown", Kevin said, "the next three years just got worse".

"We started out ok in the first year after the flood, then the second year got a little better then, boom, it fell off a cliff".

"I believe we have a good location, it is just bad timing for our opening".

So, what does Lismore Shoes stock?

"Birkenstock is our main stay", Kevin says, "Planet and Earth, Alegria for ladies work shoes as well as European leather shoes and boots".

"I want to bring in Keen in the future and Naot. We also stock Revere, which is an orthotic friendly footwear that is both fashionable and functional".

Kevin is a man of many talents. He is also a qualified pedorthist as well, a medical shoe expert. "I fit problem feet, a lot of my clients are elderly people" he mentioned.

"We can do shoe repairs , mainly on Birkenstocks as well as key cutting", Kevin added.

If you are looking for a sale then check out these sandals on sale now for $30 normally $70 and are 100% recyclable. Their main ingredient is soy bean oil made in the USA. You can send them back to the States where they can grind them up to make new ones. They are sterilisable and smell like vanilla, even after you wear them.

Lismore Shoes is now open in The Village, Goonellabah and is next to Affordable Beauty and Phil's Barber just down from the chemist.

Pop in, say hi to Kevin and Oscar (the dog).

The Lismore App wants to remind you to support local businesses at this time. Your patronage keeps the doors open and protects the livelihoods of people in our community.