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Kevin Kwong

PEOPLE have always associated the shoe repair business with men - old men. So when Mrs Cheung Mui turned up in Central's Theatre Lane one day, with her plastic floral apron and a wooden cobbler's last, it made a few heads turn.

  ''Other cobblers just kept staring,'' said the 31-year-old. ''But I think that was because I was new here. Now they don't look twice.''   Mrs Cheung Mui is known in the neighbourhood as ''the only female cobbler'' and that alone. If you ask around where Cheung Kee, Cobbler works, you get a blank look.

  The mainland immigrant came to the territory with her husband two years ago when her family bought the shoe repair business in Central from a distant relative.

  Before that, Mrs Cheung helped out in her father's shoe business in Guangzhou.

  Although working in Hongkong seemed a good opportunity, the Guangzhou native had her doubts, fearing that she may be discriminated against by other local stall owners.

  ''At first, I was worried about possible resentment among other cobblers because of the potential competition. But I think there is enough business for everybody now,'' Mrs Cheung said.

  Other cobblers on Theatre Lane have been friendly, she said, and each stall has its own customers.

  Mrs Cheung said that women tend to visit her stall simply because she is a woman.

  ''I think the customers themselves make the distinction between the other [male] cobblers and me. So now my business has more to do with ladies' shoes,'' she said.

  But there is a group of people Mrs Cheung said she rarely serves - foreigners.

  ''I do not speak or understand any English. . . which is a shame because a lot of gweilos pass this street,'' she said.

  Every day Mrs Cheung opens her tiny wooden stall along with half a dozen other cobblers in the alley. She welcomes not only customers who have planned to bring their broken shoes, but also those who hop along for an emergency repair.

  ''I have just served a woman who broke her heel getting off a bus. She was in such a hurry that I only had time to glue [the heel] back on.

  ''She has not paid me yet but she promised she would come back for a more thorough repair,'' Mrs Cheung said.

  ''Trusting people is something you need in this trade, especially as most of my customers are from the neighbourhood.''   Mrs Cheung learned all the essential skills necessary for repairing shoes from her father and she believes she does as good a job as other cobblers.

  ''I served my apprenticeship at home and have learnt several ways of repairing shoes which can make them more durable. My family is especially good at mending soles,'' she said.

  ''I am not the only woman around here. There is another woman working on Caine Road and one in Sheung Wan.''   Like many working mothers, Mrs Cheung has learnt to tie in her working hours with family duties.

  ''I have two sons, both of them studying at a primary school. So most of the time they are well tended to. For the rest of the time, I just have to fit my work in whenever I am free.''   Mr Chan, 73, has worked on Theatre Lane for the last 50 years. He is the oldest cobbler there and remembers only one other woman doing the job.

  ''She was an old woman and I think she has retired now,'' he said. The veteran cobbler does not mind having a young woman working just a few stalls away from his.

  ''It does not make any difference whether you are a man or woman, young or old. We all have our own business and we just get on with it.'' 



Cobbling together a career in Central