In 1936 Morris Levine moved from Altoona to open what we now know as Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly. It became one of Tyrone\u2019s most successful retail businesses.
\nIn November of 2003, Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly will be moving back to Altoona to start a new journey.
\nLevine\u2019s Shoe Fly will merge with Lasser\u2019s Shoes of Hollidaysburg and open three new shoe stores in the Pleasant Valley Shopping Center at the Frankstown Exit of I-99 in Altoona. The new stores will include New Balance-Altoona, Lasser\u2019s Shoe Fly, and Shoe Fly Boot Outlet.
\nThe New Balance store will carry more than 4,000 pairs of New Balance footwear and apparel. The Lasser\u2019s Shoe Fly store will carry comfort and fashion footwear for men, women and children and the Shoe Fly Boot Outlet will provide a large selection of hunting, hiking, outdoor, work and safety books for men and women.
\nLevine\u2019s Shoe Fly of Tyrone and Lasser\u2019s Shoes of Hollidaysburg will close in November 0f 2003. The first floor of the Tyrone building located on Pennsylvania Avenue is now available for rent and the building may also be for sale.
\nThe offices of Shoe Fly Shoe Incorporated will remain in Tyrone and administrate the new Altoona stores, as well as six other Shoe Fly stores, located in State College, Lewistown, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, York, and Olean, N.Y.
\nThree of the four owners of Shoe Fly Shoe Inc. are based in Tyrone including Todd Lewis, Charles Biddle and George Gripp. Three additional employees assist the owners in the Tyrone office.
\nThe new Shoe Fly stores will be managed by Byron Lasser of Hollidaysburg and will be staffed by nine employees, six of which are Tyrone residents.
\nRob Orr, current manager of Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly, is now receiving professional education in pedorthics, in training to become a Certified Pedorthist. Pedorthics services will be provided in all three stores proving professional fitting, accommodation, and modification of footwear to meet medical and special needs. Shoe Fly Direct, a mobile safety footwear service, managed by Bill McPhail of Tyrone will also relocate to the Altoona location.
\nTodd Lewis, the building owner, commented on the move and the expansion.
\n\u201cWe recognize the importance the community of Tyrone has had in allowing our business to provide service for over 67 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThis expansion would not be possible without the support of many loyal customers throughout the years. We hope to keep and improve on these relationships through our expansion and relocation to Altoona.\u201d
\nMorris Levine, founder and former owner spoke with The Daily Herald this morning.
\n\u201cI feel very sorry but we can\u2019t stop progress. I\u2019m sorry that they are leaving Tyrone. I enjoyed working with the people here and I wish he could have stayed, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s possible,\u201d said Levine. \u201cI wish him Godspeed and I hope that it works out and that the people of Tyrone will still do business with them. I feel bad but it\u2019s not my store anymore.
\n\u201cTodd is very energetic and has a good group of guys working with him. It\u2019s a good move.\u201d
\nThe professional service that Levine\u2019s and Lasser\u2019s have been known for will continue in all three new stores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1936 Morris Levine moved from Altoona to open what we now know as Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly. It became one of Tyrone\u2019s most successful retail businesses. In November of 2003, Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly will be moving back to Altoona to start a new journey. Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly will merge with Lasser\u2019s Shoes of Hollidaysburg and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}