Shining star of shining shoes

Dorothy Jones knows a good shine is not just ‘a man’s thing’

By Bill Beene

Of the St. Louis American

“Running a shoeshine business is just like church: You never know who is going to show up,” says Dorothy Jones, owner of the House of Shining Stars shoeshine shop in North St. Louis.

Clientele come from all walks of life. There are the customary clergymen, politicians, businessmen and nightclub hoppers. Then there are the unusual: female Cleveland Junior Naval Academy ROTC High School students and female police officers.

“You meet a lot of different people, and you see a lot of different types of shoes that you never knew existed,” said 17-year-old shiner and Beaumont High School student Terrell Jackson.

In the shoeshine business, shiners the age of Jackson are considered old hands. Many start around age 7.

Jones said she’s willing to give the youngsters a chance as long as they stay in school.

“It’s a boy’s job,” Jones said, adding that it makes her “feel proud that they’re making honest money. There’s so much loose money out in the street.”

There isn’t any looseness in the shop. She prohibits on-site visits, cussing, talking to one another while servicing a customer and hanging out front.

“I tell them this is their first job and one day someone may ask me for a reference,” Jones said.

The parlor is a first for Jones as well. It is the former bookstore bookkeeper’s first business.

The notion did not present itself until she and her daughter went to the shop as customers to pick up her daughter’s boyfriend’s shoes.

“The door was closed and had a ‘for sale’ sign on it, so we called the number and about two days later we bought the business,” Jones said.

Jones then learned the business from former owner The Real JR of Majic 105 and the staff shiners, who stayed on.

Jones upgraded it, putting a lot more order in place. She also learned to shine shoes and appreciate a good shine of her own.

Before Jones started running the shop she had always thought of it as “a man’s thing,” but not anymore.

“It’s a world that women haven’t really been introduced to,” Jones said. “We’d always get a little brush or Vaseline and shine at home, but since I’ve been here I’ve picked up a female clientele because I’m finding that women like to get their shoes shined also.”

Jones also acknowledges that, as a woman, she’s following in the footsteps of one of the shop’s first owners, who went by the name “Ms. Dolly.” Coincidentally, employees and customers call Jones “Ms. Dottie.”

“She shined shoes herself, and she taught the young people here,” Jones said of Ms. Dolly. “She was exceptional, and I feel honored by the legacy that’s here.”

That legacy includes a reputation inherent in the shop’s slogan: “Put your best foot forward.”

Ms. Dottie said that when she travels she always visits the hotel’s shoe-shine bench to see what she can learn.

“We really don’t pick up any tips because they aren’t doing what we do,” she said. “They just gloss the shoes and brush them, and that’s it. They don’t go through the details that we go through. It’s a rush and go.”

Shines at Jones’ House of Shining Stars range from $3.50 for a regular shine to $4.50 for a combo, which includes a wax and cream.

“Shoes have to be treated with cream just like the body has to be treated with lotion,” Ms. Dottie said. “When you have shoes in the same condition nespecially snakes and lizards n they need cream or they will crack like your hands.”

These relatively modest prices add up, in the end, to profits. “A lot of people don’t think there’s any money in it, but the money is good. I can testify to that,” Jones said.

Jones House of Shining Stars is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.