RDU airport travel is back, but the pandemic may have put an end to its shoeshine stand

As passengers again fill the main terminal at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, restaurants and other businesses are rushing to fill spaces along the concourses that went dark during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But one business isn’t likely to return. Superior Shine, which had operated shoeshine stands in Terminal 2 since it opened in 2008, closed when the pandemic decimated air travel in March 2020. Owner Cedric Nelson says he won’t reopen.

“For me it just didn’t make business sense to try to come back,” Nelson said. “Now the restaurants, they’re thriving right now. But that wouldn’t have been our case.”

Shoeshine stands have long been a part of travel in America, making the transition from train stations to airports. Nelson first opened Superior Shine in the old Terminal A at RDU in 1998, but others had come before him, including Rev. Joe Allen, who kept a Bible on hand and dispensed wisdom and a bit of the gospel as he buffed and polished shoes for more than 25 years at RDU.

Business was good. Mornings were busiest, Nelson said, as customers — mostly men but some women — wanted to look their best as they headed out to meetings and sales calls. At one time, Superior Shine employed six men full-time and two part-time.

“A basic shine was like six bucks, and you could expect the customer to give you a 10 and say to keep it,” he said. “And every now and then, people would give you $20, $50. It was a good living.”

But demand began to wane well before the pandemic, as fewer travelers were getting dressed up to board a plane or attend a meeting.

“It changed tremendously, because people stopped getting their shoes shined,” Nelson said. “Styles change. People wearing sneakers. It no longer was mandatory that you go to the office with shineable shoes on.”

The slow recovery of business travel has further dimmed prospects for shoeshine stands. According to a survey by Deloitte, corporate travel managers say overall spending on travel is still half what it was in 2019 and may not fully recover until late 2024 or early 2025.

Shoeshine stands survive at some airports

While it might seem shoeshine stands are going the way of payphones and smoking lounges, they have not disappeared. In 2019, the Airports Council International found that 45 North American airports it surveyed still had shoeshine stands. The most recent survey finishing up next week shows that number has dropped to about 23.

Charlotte Douglas International still has two shoeshine stands run by Executive Shine, a Colorado-based company that also has five in the Denver airport. The Charlotte airport is one of the world’s busiest airports with nearly five times as many passengers as RDU.

Executive Shine Owner Jill Wright told the Associated Press this winter that business was still about 35% of what it was in 2019 but that she expects demand for polished shoes will never completely go away.

RDU hasn’t decided whether it will try to find someone to reopen a shoeshine stand, said spokeswoman Stephanie Hawco. A space that once housed Superior Shine in Concourse C will become an empanadas restaurant, and vending machines occupy two alcoves where Nelson’s business was located most recently.

Will Edwards of Raleigh says he misses the stand at RDU. It was the only place he ever got his shoes shined.

“It just feels like a shoeshine booth should be standard in every airport,” said Edwards, a writer who helps run a corporate communications firm. “It’s a messy business to do it at home, and so easy to just pop into the chair on the way to your flight. With the return of business travel in earnest, feels like a lot of people will be missing it.”

Robert Eddy misses it. Eddy spent 23 years polishing shoes at Superior Shine, chatting with the people in his chair or beckoning potential customers in the passing crowds.

“I enjoyed the work,” Eddy said. “I would still be there if the pandemic hadn’t messed everything up.”

Nelson misses it, too, especially the camaraderie among the workers, “lot of bantering back and forth.” He now does construction and debris removal, which he says has one thing in common with shining shoes.

“We still talk to people,” he said. “That’s the most rewarding part.”