If the shoe fits, repair it. That’s the slogan of the Shoe Service Institute of America and it seems people are heeding that advice in droves these days.

Take this recent letter to the editor in my local weekly newspaper, The Hoboken Reporter, written by the owner of the shoe repair shop, Giovanni D’Italia, that has been operating in town for 49 years:

Due to the extreme amount of work that has poured in over the last couple of months, some valued regular customers, and new ones as well, have had some problems with missing shoes, work not done on time or sub-par quality repair. Mamma mia che disastro!

Some “disasters” may have occurred for the customers, but the flailing economy has been more than kind to shoe repair shops around the nation and this one is no exception. Giovanni’s was so busy last week that my pre-arranged interview with 21-year-old Chris Argenal -- who has been working there 10 years, do the math on that one -- had to be adjusted from an out-of-store meeting to an in-store exchange that happened between customers, phone calls, a barking dog, and the television set blaring a Sopranos rerun.

It was worth it.

Argenal is smooth, but not in a slick salesman way. When a customer hands over a pair of shoes, he makes suggestions, asks how school or work is going, and tells them to come back in day or two for pick-up. He intuitively walks that fine line between making the customer feel heard and keeping the line moving. Customer Renee Cody seemed unfazed that her shoes were not ready even though she’d come from a neighboring town to pick them up.

“I lived across the street from here 47 years ago,” she said. “I used to play hopscotch with the heels.”

Truth be told, business at Giovanni’s has grown steadily every year since it’s been in existence because of loyal customers like Cody. There’s also a former Hoboken resident who takes the trip from Long Island twice a month and even one in Boca Raton who sends his shoes via UPS. The recent boom that prompted the letter to the editor, though, was due mostly to those in a crunch who had to cut back on their voracious consumption. They’re often the ones wearing top-of-the-line brands who aren’t in a position to replace the $500 pair with another $500 pair. The shop is seeing a lot more vintage as well

“Yesterday a young woman, mid 20s, brought in a Chanel bag that belonged to her grandmother,” Argenal said. “The chain wasn’t strong enough to hold all her stuff. I stitched it for her. It’s better than a new one.”

If it’s possible to stumble on your gift, Argenal has done that. His work at Giovanni’s began at age 11 because he wanted a “new pair of Jordans” and his mother wouldn’t pay for them. His brother, Joseph Pedragon, was already working there.

“It was easy,” he said. “I would run errands for the owner like getting his dry cleaning and walking his dog.”

But then it was on to cleaning suede and incrementally learning the rest of the business. Now he works 80 hours, seven days a week, and you can tell he has hit his stride, so to speak, overseeing quality control.

“Everyone wakes up in the morning and says they don’t want to go to work,” Argenal said. “Sometimes I do for a minute, then I slap myself, have coffee and go. I get paid pretty well and I like what I do.”

The work ethic runs in the family. Pedragon, who worked at his father’s gas station when he was nine, took over for his college-bound cousin at Giovanni’s when he was just shy of 12. He, too, started out as a go-fer and learned the business at the owner’s knee; he left for a short time to become a state corrections officer, but returned.

“I decided to come back to what I know, what I like,” Pedragon said.

Now, at age 23, he manages Giovanni’s new location in the Newport section of Jersey City while he goes to school to become an accountant. His father, who had been an accountant in the Dominican Republic, now has an accounting firm in Newark; his mother is the secretary there.

“When I finish school, he’s going to give me the keys and retire,” Pedragon said. “And I’ll still do [Giovanni’s] books.”

In the meantime, Pedragon gets to utilize his near-perfectionist tendencies, like trying to match a “weird” shoe or bag color, and see the satisfaction it brings to customers.

“John told me something a long time ago,” he said of the owner. “When you go on an interview or you’re meeting someone for the first time, people look at your feet. You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes.”

And you can tell a lot about a business by their customer service. Giovanni’s is currently offering a complimentary shine for anyone going on a job interview.

How’s that for averting more disasters?

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.