About

City Electric Shoe Shop(left), next to old Chief Theater

Our story

The dusty town of Gallup, New Mexico in 1924 boasted much appeal for American immigrants desiring to begin a new life and seek out success. For one such immigrant, the small shops and businesses situated on downtown Coal Avenue, lined with awnings and Model A cars, represented just that. In 1924, Sesto Bonaguidi, a recent immigrant to the United States from Italy, saw opportunity on a small street corner at 3rd Street and Coal Avenue. Sesto's dream was to create a store of his own, fine tweaking the skills of shoe repair he had acquired as a boy in Italy. City Electric Shoe Shop, as Sesto's dream came to be called, was born out of a recent phenomenon. Electric run equipment and electric shoe repair was cutting edge, allowing for quality, same-day service. Prior to this recent development, customers who came to town for shoe repair would sometimes have to wait until their next trip to town, often 3-6 months later, to pick up their possessions. Sesto's "City Electric Shoe Shop" made everyone's life easier.

The store didn't grow only in terms of space, but by the year 2000 it was a third-generation enterprise The store was now run by Sesto's children, Louie Bonaguidi and Lorry Bonaguidi Menapace, and it merged with Santa Fe Leather Company, a wholesale belt factory run by Louie's son, Tony Bonaguidi. In 2006 the store took on a new challenge, that of whole sale production of moccasins produced under the Taos Moccasin name which had been recently acquired. In 2021 Lorry Menapace sadly passed due to complications with covid. Today the store is approaching its 100th anniversary, still family owned.