GoFundMe launched to save Eureka shoe repair shop amid owner’s illness

Grundman’s Shoe Services at 3127 F St. in Eureka has gone dark while owner Mike Grundman battles Stage 4 lung cancer after surviving several strokes, and a GoFundMe is now carrying the burden of trying to keep one of Henderson Center’s oldest working shops alive.

For more than seven decades, the cobbler has served Humboldt County workers who need boots resoled, heels rebuilt and leather gear kept in service. The fundraiser describes Grundman’s as a second-generation family business and frames the shop as part of the county’s working life, a place loggers, fishers, ranchers, truckers and tradespeople have depended on since the early 1950s. In a downtown and neighborhood business district where many legacy shops have already disappeared, the closure has become a test of whether a specialized repair business can survive a long health crisis.

The public appeal also puts the shop’s value in practical economic terms. Repair work keeps shoes and boots in use longer, which helps local residents stay on the job and keeps usable goods out of the landfill. That matters in a county where replacement is often easier than maintenance, but where one reliable cobbler can still make the difference between a serviceable pair of work boots and a costly replacement.

Grundman’s health problems have stretched back years. A separate campaign for Mike Grundman says he was diagnosed with rectal cancer in May 2020 and later underwent surgery and additional treatment, including focused radiation to a tumor in the right upper lung in August 2022. The current closure adds a new layer to that long fight, with the shop now closed because of declining health.

Directory listings place Grundman’s in Eureka’s Henderson Center area and show that it previously kept weekday and Saturday hours, with Mondays and Sundays closed. One business directory lists the company as founded in 1954 and estimates annual sales at about $500,000, a reminder that even a small repair shop can represent a meaningful piece of the local economy. Customer reviews repeatedly describe it as a trusted workshop, praising repairs to boots, heels, Birkenstocks, leatherwork and purse repairs.

The broader stakes reach beyond one storefront. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says textiles and footwear are part of a larger waste stream problem, and reports that the recycling rate for all textiles was 14.7% in 2018, with 2.5 million tons recycled. Grundman’s has long offered a more local alternative to disposal. Whether donations can bridge the shop through Mike Grundman’s illness, or whether the closure becomes permanent, will say a lot about the survival odds for Humboldt’s old-line downtown businesses.