{"id":21725,"date":"2025-06-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/browns-shoe-fit-co-reopens-after-months-of-construction\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:09:07","slug":"browns-shoe-fit-co-reopens-after-months-of-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/browns-shoe-fit-co-reopens-after-months-of-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown\u2019s Shoe Fit Co. reopens after months of construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Second
Second floor construction caused the temporary closure of Brown\u2019s Shoe Fit Co. and other businesses on the 800 block of Main Avenue. (Courtesy of Daniel Vagasky\/Dock High Development)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear Action Line,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you know what\u2019s going on with Brown\u2019s shoes and when it will, if ever, reopen? It closed in late February for a remodel to open in March. It\u2019s still closed. I see that there\u2019s renovations happening upstairs, too, and wonder if that\u2019s also involved? I just miss a good place to shop for shoes in town with quality brands. Signed, Shoe Shopper<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Shoe Shopper,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy to report that Brown\u2019s Shoe Fit Co. reopened after construction on the day that I\u2019m writing this, Wednesday, June 18. The store did indeed close earlier this year in February, and initially planned to reopen in March.<\/p>\n

The saying \u201cwalk a mile in my shoes\u201d seems apt in this situation. From the outside, Brown\u2019s looked like a long-delayed construction project. That\u2019s true, but the story of why the construction project took longer than expected is more interesting than you\u2019d expect. Take a walk with Action Line as we explain.<\/p>\n

The story begins with lawyers. No, they didn\u2019t need to shop for a new pair of dress shoes for court.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Kruschke clothing store previously occupied space in the building. City planners still refer to the building as the Kruschke block. (Courtesy of Daniel Vagasky\/Dock High Development)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Colorado State Public Defender\u2019s office is currently located in Three Springs, but the office was looking to move downtown to be closer to the La Plata County Courthouse. The plan was to move into the upstairs space in the building above Brown\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The construction that began in February was initially planned to install an elevator to make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act before the defender\u2019s office moved in, said Daniel Vagasky of Dock High Development, the building\u2019s owner.<\/p>\n

Once crews began the project, it became evident that the building had structural issues that would require extensive remodeling. The floor joists were cracked and failing in numerous locations, essentially requiring the entire second floor to be reinstalled.<\/p>\n

In a way, it\u2019s not surprising that an aging building needed work. In fact, it\u2019s the second-oldest brick building in Durango behind only the Strater Hotel, Vagasky said. The building was originally built by the railroad, and it showed off the fire resistant properties of brick. That was a good call, as the building survived several downtown fires over the years. That\u2019s why it\u2019s one of the oldest-looking buildings along Main Avenue.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all to say that the building has been there for a while.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s has been selling shoes in the building since 1977. Previously, the Kruschke clothing store was in the space, named after the building\u2019s owner at the time, Isaac Kruscke. The building is still referred to as the Kruschke block in city records.<\/p>\n

Vagasky emphasized that the city has been great to work with on the project, from securing permits to helping with the historic preservation of the building.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s is now open, though Gardenswartz Sporting Goods and Urban Market\u2019s home goods and furniture stores are still impacted by construction. Vagasky expects the construction to be complete by Oct. 1, which is when the Public Defenders will move in \u2013 and they won\u2019t have to walk far when they need a new pair of shoes.<\/p>\n

Submit questions to actionline@durangoherald.com<\/a> or mail questions to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

floor construction caused the temporary closure of Brown\u2019s Shoe Fit Co. and other businesses on the 800 block of Main Avenue. (Courtesy of Daniel Vagasky\/Dock High Development) Dear Action Line, Do you know what\u2019s going on with Brown\u2019s shoes and when it will, if ever, reopen? It closed in late February for a remodel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77433,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21725\/revisions\/77433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21725"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}