Little compares to the simple joy of having your shoes shined. Like a good haircut, a sauna, or a deep-tissue massage, it gives you that oh-so-rare feeling of being pleasantly catered to – if only for a few minutes.
Shoeshine stands are a fixture in most Western cities. Armies of shoe polishers line the train stations, subway stations and business districts of New York, Paris and London. But aside from the complimentary shines offered by a lone shoe shiner deep in the recesses of nightclub Al Capone, this service has been strangely absent from Kyiv.
Until now.
Three months ago Anatoly Nishpora set up a shoeshine stand in the underpass at metro station Maidan Nezelezhnosti. Armed with a plastic table and chair, a makeshift footrest, several tins of Kiwi shoe polish, and an assortment of brushes, Nishpora set to work providing a service that was largely unavailable to the public.
He isn’t a rock star, hasn’t appeared in any recent films and doesn’t play striker for Dynamo, but at 28, Nishpora is already a bit jaded from all the publicity he’s been getting.
When approached by our Best Of team, Nishpora rolled his eyes. “You want an interview,” he said, before we could even make the request. Since setting up camp, he has been interviewed by reporters from both radio and television.
A personable, energetic young man (with meticulously shined shoes), Nishpora gabs with his clients while brushing and buffing old leather back into form. His is no mere spit-and-shine operation. A shoeshine from Nishpora is a multi-step process involving several brushes, soft-rags and the expertly measured application of name-brand polish.
When asked what he was doing prior to this, Nishpora replied bashfully, “Oh, many things. This was just a hobby.”
Thanks to Nishpora, gone are the days of dull, lifeless shoes. No longer shall men lurk in dark corners, shining their faded loafers with the end of a rag, sharing a treasured can of polish in the back alleys of Kyiv, passing dusty boxes of aged implements from father to son. Nishpora brings the possibility of sparkling footwear onto the streets (or at least under them).
Anatoli Nishpora
Maidan Nezelezhnosti underpass
(by the northwest exit)
Open Monday through Friday
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
