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LAMBERTVILLE: Schmidt: He likes his business and people, too

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   LAMBERTVILLE — Fred Schmidt is now into his second quarter-century of owning and operating Artcraft Shoe Repair in Lambertville.
   The business celebrated its 25th anniversary two weeks ago.
   ”It feels great. It’s quite surprising,” Mr. Schmidt said. “The time seemed to go by quickly.”
   No wonder! Mr. Schmidt is a busy guy, and he puts his effort and energy into a lot more than fixing shoes for men and women, riding boots and other kinds of boots, sandals, handbags, coats, bike bags and other things.
   He puts the same effort and energy into his dealings with his customers. He gives them all a big hello, a hearty good-bye and, in between, some conversation with interest and vitality.
   ”I like people,” he said. “Why not be nice to people? Then they’ll be nice to me, and then they’ll come back to my shop. So it works out all around. That’s the way it should be. It’s a win-win.”
   Artcraft Shoe Repair is at 4 McCready Alley. Mr. Schmidt, who lives in Hilltown, Pennsylvania, learned his trade working with his father at a shop in the Reading Terminal in Center City, Philadelphia.
   ”I learned how to do everything I’ve done in that shop,” Mr. Schmidt said. “I still have the machine I learned on. The railroad terminal got built into the Philadelphia Convention Center, so we had to move. Dad went to Florida and had a shop there for five years. I heard about a guy moving out of this shop in Lambertville, so I moved in, and here I still am.”
   No job is too tough to try. “If I can do it, I’m happy to do it,” he said. “If anybody’ll fix it, I will. The buck stops here.”
   It’s a good place for it to stop. Mr. Schmidt is a prototypical handyman. He was named “Mr. Fixit of Lambertville” by Philadelphia Magazine.
   Playing it fair and square is his credo. “I’m honest with people,” he said. “They appreciate my honesty. The people here are wonderful. They are so nice. Lambertville is a really neat, quaint town. People like living here for the ambiance, the ambiance of a river town that has so much going on all the time, so many unique businesses. If you live here, you can walk to wherever in town you want to go.”
   How does Mr. Fixit relax? By skiing and fishing, Mr. Schmidt said. “And I like working around the house, especially outside, fixing things and doing what needs to be done. It’s nice to be outside because, working, I’m indoors all the time.”