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On a recent winter weekday at Penn Station Shoe Repair and Shoe Shine, men hop onto shoeshine chairs and pull out newspapers and phones to read while shoeshiners get to work applying polish and elbow grease to loafers, boots and other leather shoes. When finished, these customers hand over $8 in cash at a counter where a sign reads “We’re not God, but we do save soles.”

Shoeshining has a vaunted history in the U.S. In the 1860s, Horatio Alger popularized the “rags-to-riches” American narrative with his book “Ragged Dick” about a shoeshiner (or “bootblack”) who works his way up to wealth. “Shoeshine boys” (and occasional girls) have subsequently been in countless movies and TV shows.

Today, the tradition of getting a quick polish from a rag-toting shoeshiner is greatly diminished, and many stands similar to the one in Penn Station have disappeared across the country. The decline has been exacerbated by the pandemic, remote working and the rise in popularity of more casual workwear when people did return to the office. SC Johnson, which makes the biggest shoe polish brand, Kiwi, even said in January that it had stopped selling the brand in the U.K. due to softening demand (they still sell it in the U.S.) 

The last time the Census listed shoeshining as a discrete business was 2007, when only 30 establishments were counted. The more-encompassing shoe repair market has declined an estimated 23% between 2013 and 2023 to $307 million, according to market research firm IBISWorld. Shoe polish sales in 2022 totaled 27.3 million units, down 29% compared with 2019, according to figures from Nielsen, a sign of the changes brought on by the pandemic. 

Nisan Khaimov, who owns the Penn Station stand, said his stand would shine 80 to 100 shoes each workday before the pandemic. Now it’s between 30 to 50 on Tuesday to Thursday, and even fewer on Mondays and Fridays. Hybrid work is hurting his business.

“Until people come back to work, the problems will not be solved,” said Khaimov, who benefits from commuters traveling in and out of New York City who can’t get their shoes shined where they live. “And it’s not good for landlords and for tenants also like us. So, we’re waiting. But eventually it will go back to normal, we hope. But when we don’t know.”

Rory Heenan, 38, an accountant in Philadelphia, said that as a young boy he would take the train with his father on his way to work one Friday each month and watch him get a shoeshine.

“I would just sit here as a a little guy, you know, observing,” he said. “And here I am, you know, 30 years later, doing the same thing. So, it’s certainly something that’s passed down over time.”

Across town, in the corridor between the subway and The Port Authority bus terminal, Jairo Cardenas is also feeling the pinch. Business at Alpha Shoes Repair Corp., which he’s run for 33 years, is down 75% compared with prior to the pandemic. He’s down to one shoeshiner, from the three he employed before the pandemic. His shoeshiners used to shine 60 or 70 shoes a day. Now a good day is 10 to 15 shines.

Cardenas’ landlord gave him a break on rent, but he’s still struggling, and has seen several other shoeshine stores in the area close. Still, he is noticing an uptick in people returning to work and hopes business slowly returns to normal by the spring.

Shoe repairs typically bring in more money than shines. At David Mesquita’s Leather Spa, which operates five shoe repair and shoeshine businesses, including two in Grand Central, the bulk of the business comes from shoe, handbag and garment repair. But shoeshines are still a key offering to draw people in to Leather Spa locations since they’re not available everywhere.

Pre-pandemic, Leather Spa had four shoeshine chairs in Grand Central and six shoeshiners rotating, who would do about 120 shines a day. Nowadays, there are three shoeshiners who do 40 or 50 shines on the best days.

But Mesquita is seeing people slowly coming back. His December 2022 shoeshine numbers were up 52% compared with December 2021. Mondays and Fridays are less busy than the middle of the week due to office workers’ hybrid schedules.

“Traffic is slowly coming back in, we’re seeing the commuters come in and everything, but we’re still not back 100% of what we were,” Mesquita said.

Mesquita said shoeshining is not something that will go away completely.

“I think it’s just a little luxury,” he said. “People like to treat themselves, you know, whether it’s once a week or twice a week or, you know, once every two weeks. It’s just nice.”

Besides big city transit hubs, airports are one of the few remaining spots to reliably get a shoeshine. Jill Wright owns Executive Shine, which operates shoeshine stations in the Denver and Charlotte airports. Her business was devastated when air travel shut down.

When airports started to reopen, they were empty. The only people getting their shoes shined were pilots and crew, she said, which kept her company in business. Now, Wright says her businesses is still just 35% of what it was in 2019.

“Travel has really changed,” she said. “Companies are starting to come back but not to the degree that they were.”

Business travel is rebounding, but the U.S. Travel Association predicts 2023 business trips will still be down 10% from 2019, and will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. Meanwhile, people are dressing differently when they travel. Instead of traveling in workwear, some travelers that still want to get their shoes shined will travel in tennis shoes, pull out their dress shoes to get a shine, and then put them back in their bag, Wright said.

Like Mesquita, Wright expects demand for shoeshines will never go away completely, because it’s more than just a transactional service. A shine is a moment of connection between two people, particularly at an airport where there is a lot of rushing around and stress, she said.

“People come for a shoeshine, but they also come for the connection and for the conversation and just for a place to relax and talk and be seen and feel some compassion,” she said. 
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China’s government announced plans to promote a consumer-led revival of the nation’s struggling economy as its legislature opened a session Sunday that will tighten President Xi Jinping’s control over business and society.

Premier Li Keqiang, the top economic official, set this year’s official growth target “around 5%” following the end of anti-virus controls that kept millions of people at home and triggered protests. Growth last year fell to 3%, the second-weakest level since at least the 1970s.

“We should give priority to the recovery and expansion of consumption,” Li said in a nationally televised speech on government plans before the ceremonial National People’s Congress in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.

The full meeting of the 2,977 members of the NPC is the year’s highest-profile event but its work is limited to endorsing decisions made by the ruling Communist Party and showcasing official initiatives.

This month, the NPC is set to endorse the appointment of a government of Xi loyalists including a new premier after the 69-year-old president expanded his status as China’s most powerful figure in decades by awarding himself a third five-year term as party general secretary in October, possibly preparing to become leader for life. Li, an advocate of free enterprise, was forced out as the No. 2 party leader in October.

Xi’s new leadership team will face challenges ranging from weak global demand for exports and lingering U.S. tariff hikes in a feud over technology and security to curbs on access to Western processor chips because of security fears. Beijing’s relations with Washington and its Asian neighbors have been strained by disputes over technology, security and control of the South China Sea.

In his report Sunday, the premier called for accelerating industrial and technology development, an area in which Beijing’s state-led efforts have strained relations with Washington and other trading partners. They complain China steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology and improperly subsidizes and shields its fledgling competitors in violation of its market-opening commitments.

Xi earlier singled out encouraging jittery consumers and entrepreneurs to spend and invest as a priority at the ruling party’s economic planning meeting in December.

Beijing needs to “fully release consumption potential,” Xi said, according to a text released last month.

Since taking power in 2012, Xi has promoted an even more dominant role for the ruling party. He has called for the party to return to its “original mission” as China’s economic, social and cultural leader and carry out the “rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation.”

Xi has crushed dissent, stepped up censorship and control over information, and tightened control over Hong Kong.

Xi’s government has tightened control over China’s biggest e-commerce and other tech companies with anti-monopoly and data security crackdowns that wiped billions of dollars off their stock market value. Beijing is pressing them to pay for social welfare and official initiatives to develop processor chips and other technology.

That has prompted warnings economic growth will suffer.

Li’s report Sunday reinforced the importance of state industry. It promised to support entrepreneurs who generate China’s new jobs and wealth but also said the government will “enhance the core competitiveness” of state-owned companies that dominate industries from banking and energy to telecoms and steel.

Li also called for “resolute steps” to oppose formal independence for Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. He called for “peaceful reunification” between China and Taiwan, which split in 1949 after a civil war, but announced no initiatives.

Taiwan never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, but Beijing says it is obligated to unite with the mainland, by force if necessary. Xi’s government has stepped up efforts to intimidate the island by flying fighter jets and bombers nearby and firing missiles into the ocean.

Chinese economic growth has struggled since mid-2021, when tighter controls on debt that Beijing worries is dangerously high triggered a slump in the vast real estate industry, which supports millions of jobs. Smaller developers were forced into bankruptcy and some defaulted on bonds, causing alarm in global financial markets.

Longer term, the workforce has been shrinking for a decade, putting pressure on plans to increase China’s wealth and global influence.

Consumer spending is gradually recovering, but the International Monetary Fund and some private sector economists forecast growth this year as low as 4.4%, well below the official target.

A measure of factory activity rose to a nine-year high in February. Other measures of activity including the number of subway passengers and express deliveries rose.

A central bank official said Friday real estate activity is recovering and lending for construction and home purchases is rising.

A recovery based on consumer spending is likely to be more gradual than one driven by stimulus spending or a boom in real estate investment. But Chinese leaders are trying to avoid reigniting a rise in debt and want to nurture self-sustaining growth based on consumption instead of exports and investment.

The official in line to become premier is Li Qiang, a former party secretary of Shanghai who is close to Xi but has no government experience at the national level. Li Qiang was named No. 2 party leader in October.

That reflects Xi’s emphasis on promoting officials with whom he has personal history and bypassing party tradition that leadership candidates need experience as Cabinet ministers or in other national-level posts.

If achieved, the official growth target would be an improvement over last year but down sharply from 2021’s 8.1%.
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On a blustery late-winter day in Shakespeare’s birthplace, the foyer of the Other Place theater is a cozy refuge. Visitors are having meetings over coffee, checking emails, writing poetry, learning to sew.

It looks and feels like an arty café in the picturesque streets of Stratford-upon-Avon, but it’s a “warm hub” set up by the Royal Shakespeare Company drama troupe to welcome people struggling to heat their homes because of sky-high energy prices.

Warm hubs have sprouted across Britain by the thousands this winter as soaring food and energy prices drive millions to turn down the thermostat or skimp on hot meals. Research by the opposition Labour Party counted almost 13,000 such hubs, funded by a mix of charities, community groups and the government and nestled in libraries, churches, community centers and even a tearoom at King Charles III’s Highgrove country estate.

Wendy Freeman, an artist, writer and seventh generation Stratfordian, heard about the RSC’s warm hub from a friend. She lives in “a tiny house with no central heating” and relies on a coal fire for warmth. Like many, she has cut back in response to the cost-of-living crisis driven by the highest inflation since the 1980s.

“You just adapt,” said Freeman, 69, who was using the center as a warm, quiet place to work on a poem. “Little things, like putting less water in the kettle. I was brought up with ‘save the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.’ I always cook from scratch and eat what’s in season.

“But it’s nice to go somewhere warm,” she added.

A perfect storm of Russia’s war in Ukraine, lingering pandemic disruption and economic aftershocks of Brexit is putting more people in Britain under financial strain. Households and businesses were hit especially hard after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up the cost of natural gas needed for heating and helped push the U.K. to the precipice of a recession.

The U.K.’s annual inflation rate was just above 10% in January, with food prices up almost 17% over the year. Some 62% of adults are using less natural gas or electricity to save money, according to the Office for National Statistics. A quarter of households regularly run out of money for essentials, pollster Survation found.

Though oil and natural gas prices have fallen from last year’s peaks, the average British household energy bill is still double what it was a year ago. Costs for many are due to rise by another 20% on April 1 when a government-set price cap goes up.

Anne Bolger, a retired math teacher, happened across the warm hub during a walk one day and has come back every week since. She drops in to check emails, prep for math tutoring or do a jigsaw puzzle.

“Today’s the day that I’m appreciating it, because home is freezing,” she said.

The hub runs one afternoon a week in the smallest of the RSC’s three theaters. On Tuesday, the space held a mixture of theater staff, actors on the way to rehearsals and visitors looking to get warm. Organizers provide puzzles, games, toys for children, free tea, coffee and Wi-Fi — even a sewing table.

“I like the fact that it’s such a creative space,” said Bolger, 66. “People are having meetings there, they’re talking, they’re working. I just feel a bit more alive than sitting at home, a bit more connected.”

That’s just what organizers want to hear. They say warm hubs exist to ease loneliness as well as energy poverty.

“The warmth is in the welcome as much as a warm building to come to,” said Nicola Salmon, who oversees the hub as the RSC’s creative place-making manager. “There is always somebody here to chat to.”

Stratford, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of London, is a prosperous town that makes a good living from William Shakespeare, its most famous son. Even on a wintry weekday, tourists traipse though streets of half-timbered Tudor buildings to see the house where the Bard was born, visit the schoolroom where he studied and stand over his grave in the medieval Holy Trinity Church.

The RSC is one of Stratford’s main cultural attractions and major employers. Salmon says the warm hub is part of the company’s efforts to get closer to its surrounding community, a town that “is often perceived as affluent and well-off” but contains “areas of great deprivation.”

Like Britain’s food banks — now numbering an estimated 2,500 — warm hubs are a crisis measure showing signs of becoming permanent.

The Warwickshire Rural Community Council, a charity covering the county around Stratford, set up a mobile warm hub — a minibus-turned-pop-up outdoor café — in 2021 as pandemic restrictions plunged many rural residents into isolation.

A year ago, the charity ran five hubs across the county, with backing from Cadent, the private company that distributes much of Britain’s heating gas. As winter hit and energy bills soared, the number mushroomed to 90, providing everything from meals to repair workshops and slow-cooking courses meant to reduce gas use.

About 30 of the hubs will stay open this summer — with a view to becoming permanent — and the mobile hub will be on the road five days a week.

“People say we shouldn’t be in this situation, and we shouldn’t be,” said Jackie Holcroft, the charity’s warm hubs manager. “But we are. And I think one of the most amazing things is that you’ve got hundreds, thousands of volunteers around Warwickshire and they’re all coming together to make a difference.”

The RSC’s warm space will close at the end of March, but the company is already planning for its return next year.

“I’ll miss it like crazy,” said Bolger, one of the regulars. “I’m not hoping that the fuel crisis goes on forever, but I am hoping this place will stay open.”
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