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Opened on the Upper West Side in 1975, Harry’s Shoes is back in business under new ownership at 2299 Broadway, between West 82nd and 83rd Streets.
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Following a five-month closure that began in March, Harry’s new owner, Holden Nagelberg, used the time to refresh the space and assemble a brand-new team.
Born in the Bronx — and a lifelong New York Yankees fan — Nagelberg studied music education at Queens College and played bass in a band with a record deal. His plan was to become a schoolteacher, but, as he put it, “the whole thing got derailed when I got this part-time job in an orthopedic shoe store and fell in love with the shoes.” That brand was Sole Provisions in Queens, founded in 1979 by Cuban immigrant Ernesto Rueda.
“The previous owner contacted me,” said Nagelberg, explaining how the takeover of Harry’s Shoes came about. That owner is Robert Goldberg, who along with his sister, Randi Goldberg Wasserman, took over the Broadway institution in 1987 from their father, Joe. Joe, who passed away in 2012, had built Harry’s into a neighborhood mainstay. “I’m known in the industry as somebody who will acquire a business if it makes sense for us,” Nagelberg added. Together, he and the Goldbergs worked out a way for the family to step away while giving the Sole Provisions era of Harry’s a strong chance at success.
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“I think the biggest draw for me was the feeling of appreciation I got from the customers. I did not grow up with grandparents,” said Nagelberg, who found joy in helping people, many of them elderly. “My last living grandparent, my grandmother on my father’s side, passed away when I was five. It was very fulfilling for me. I really, really loved the idea that somebody suffering from diabetic neuropathy or severe rheumatoid arthritis, whose mobility was totally compromised, could actually have their life made better.”
Nagelberg eventually took over Sole Provisions, which has since grown into a network of more than 20 independent shops under the “Sole Provisions Family of Shoe Stores.” The group stretches across the country, from R.B. Shap Shoes in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Instep in Austin, Texas, and Alan’s Shoes in Tucson, Arizona.
We asked the new Harry’s proprietor if he had any early takeaways from doing business on the Upper West Side, less than a week after reopening.
“I am overwhelmed by the sense of appreciation that we’re receiving,” said Nagelberg. “I can’t tell you how many people are coming in with the biggest smiles on their faces, letting us know how happy they are. It’s been really, really great so far.”
During our visit to Harry’s, we could tell the store was still filling out, with several small framed signs on tables that read, “Coming Soon.”
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Nagelberg, who is now based in Philadelphia, said he plans to be at the UWS location on Wednesdays. The timing, he explained, has to do with being between seasons as the store reopens. “It’s not quite fall yet, so we have some summer goods, but not as many as we would obviously have during the full spring and summer season,” he noted. “And we don’t have a lot of boots in yet, because, honestly, the manufacturers aren’t shipping boots. So a lot of those ‘Coming Soon’ signs just have to do with seasonal merchandise that hasn’t shipped yet, or brands that haven’t received their deliveries from their factories.”
The owner emphasized that everything is on the way, and that the place will be “packed out” with footwear in just a few weeks.
We could feel the empathy coming from Nagelberg, who told us the shoes he prefers to wear support a “flexible arch structure.” But he didn’t want to single out any brands in the shop, giving the impression that every shoe sole has a soul — and they’re all equal.
Keep an eye out in the far back room: Nagelberg says this will soon be a shoe sale space with marked-down items. “Right now, we only have about 700 pairs of shoes back there, but there will be thousands. We will always keep that back room as our sale room,” he explained, adding that there will always be a strong selection.
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Nagelberg said the most important change he wants to make is returning Harry’s to its roots as a neighborhood shoe store. In recent years, he felt it had leaned too heavily toward luxury, and his goal is to offer a wider range of shoes at different price points. “We still have a great selection of the luxury items that Harry’s sold well, but we’ve also included more commercial brands at more accessible prices,” he explained, adding that children’s shoes — which had been phased out in recent years — are now back. He emphasized that his focus is on making Harry’s the best shoe store for the Upper West Side, echoing the philosophy of longtime owner Joe Goldberg, who always believed the store should serve its neighborhood first.
“He is one of the most respected people to ever be in retail. I met him a couple of times, and it was a very important experience for me to meet somebody so significant in the shoe business. I want to pay respect to the person who created such an iconic institution,” said Nagelberg, adding that Goldberg’s picture “will never leave that stairwell,” where it hangs.
The new era of Harry’s Shoes is open Monday through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can visit their website here.
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Thrilled to have Harry’s back, even more thrilled to learn that the new management is bringing back less expensive but still good quality shoes than the super-pricy ones recently featured. It’s obscene to ask $350 for a pair of loafers, unless you’re a fashionista or fabulously wealthy. The regular folks who comprise a great part of the UWS come from all backgrounds, types of employment, big families or single neighbors–we all want to be seen and cared for by this iconic store. I’ll be there soon!
I hope they’ll have some of the high-quality women’s shoes Harry’s carried for many years. Just before they closed, all of those were gone, replaced by either no-name shoes or (increasingly) by nothing at all.
Looking forward to going back there!
I have narrow feet. Harry’s could accommodate that. Hope the new owners will too.
I recently bought a pair of shoes at a Sole
Provisions store and they are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned. The young man who helped me was extremely well trained and knowledgeable. Hope this will be true at Harry’s as well.