05/06/2023
One of my favorite spots in downtown leesburg…and their secret garden in the back is the best!
Welcome to !
You more than likely have passed the neon “Shoes” sign on North King Street, but (hopefully) have avoided stopping in for your new pair of footwear.
While Shoes, Cup and Cork Club—a popular restaurant and coffee shop—has graced the 17 North King Street space since 2009, most of the building’s life was spent as—surprise! —a shoe store or shoe repair shop.
The early years of the building (which was estimated to be constructed around 1880), contained myriad uses, from the former Leesburg Post Office, to a telephone office, and even a new car showroom. But about 100 years ago a man named Vincenzo Ranieri stopped for lunch in Leesburg on his way from Sicily to Bluemont and decided to establish his American shoe repair and hat cleaning business there. The neon Shoes sign was installed in the 1940s as a promotion for Red Goose Shoes, according to the Shoes, Cup and Cork Club website.
Hartoun “Arthur” Varouganian began leasing the first floor of the building in 1973 for his Arthur’s Shoe Repair shop. Arthur’s closed in 2005 and the building remained vacant until the Shoes restaurant opened four years later. During renovation of the building in preparation for the opening of the restaurant, owners Fred and Karen Schaufeld made a humorous discovery.
“We noticed the heel of a shoe sticking out from the rubble of a wall, with a tag that had a due date of December 31, 1928, and a repair fee of $1.00 for a new heel that seems to have been completed. When the rightful owner shows up with the claim tag, the storage fee, and $1, we will gladly return it. Until then, it is the centerpiece of our Café chandelier,” the website states.
Specializing in Northern Virginia Real Estate. ¡Se habla español!
