Then and Now: Unique Building housed Saad’s

Eli Saad was born in Beirut around 1885. Members of the Saad family always called themselves Syrian, because in that era, Beirut was part of Syria.

In 1909, he arrived nearly penniless in Spokane. His older brothers Paul and John had started the Saad’s Bros. Shoe Repair, Pool Room and Cigars in 1906. Eli joined the business and they moved to the northeast corner of Main and Wall in 1910. In those early days, there was usually a barbershop in the building to capitalize on men waiting for Saad’s “quick shoe repair.”

The store sold new shoes and had varying specialties as members of the Saad family moved, closed or opened new stores around Spokane and, later, Seattle. The Main Avenue store expanded across Wall to the northwest corner. Eli Saad took over local management in 1921 and went on to build a new brick colonial home in 1935 at 504 E. 14th Ave., which the local newspaper described as “pretentious” during the Depression.

The 702 W. Main store burned in 1966, killing firefighter Leroy Mackey. The Saads rebuilt the three-story building. The Saad family opened stores at the NorthTown and U-City malls. Paul’s son Jack Saad, who took over the stores in 1949, sold the chain in 1986 to Larry Alfano, who had a shoe repair store in Shadle Center.

Paul died in 1957. Eli retired in 1957 and died in 1965. John died in 1973. In 2013, Saad’s Shoe Service moved from NorthTown to 4407 N. Division St.

Read more about Spokane history on the Then & Now blog.

– Jesse Tinsley