From riches to rags

Former mortgage banker embraces shining, if not quite as lucrative, future as manager of a shoeshine business

By Geof Wollerman, Special to the Rocky

Published January 3, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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For 17 years, Greg Perry climbed his way up the mortgage banking ladder - from retail loan officer to manager of wholesale accounts. He enjoyed the work, and at the height of his career he was making more money than he knew what to do with.

Then he got laid off.

These days Perry runs a string of shoeshine stands owned by his fiancee. And he doesn't mind his new routine.

"Financially things are a little bit more scary, but the stress level of the job is way down," Perry said.

Instead of meeting monthly sales goals, his biggest concern is finding new locations for shoeshine stands - and keeping the 12 independent contractors who work at the existing six stands happy.

Unless you're the manager or the owner, it's "not the type of job that's going to pay your rent and your food and keep the heat on and the lights on," Perry said. "Some days you make $250, and some days you make $2.50."

Perry's fiancee, Genie O'Fallon, has owned the Touch of Polish shoeshine stands since 1987. When Perry lost his job in May, he started working at one of her stands, figuring he'd stay until he found other work. But other work never materialized. So he stayed, eventually moving up to manager.

"There's just not a lot out there," Perry said. "Especially for people with experience."

Perry recently opened a sixth stand and hopes to have a seventh up and running in January. He calls the stand where he works, which is located downtown in the atrium of Independence Plaza, Shine, because he likes to think his services can add a little luster to an otherwise dour day.

Perry might be new to the business, but he's had plenty of experience shining shoes - starting at age 9 with his father's military boots. He also got plenty of practice during his eight years in the Army, where he served in Desert Storm and rose to the rank of captain.

It was after leaving the Army in 1991 that Perry, a graduate of Metropolitan State College of Denver, got a job at a retail bank and "fell in love" with mortgage lending.

"I really like the mortgage industry," Perry said. "There's nothing more exciting to me than sitting at a closing table and having somebody get a set of keys in their hands that goes to their new home."

But after getting laid off and watching the industry implode, his enthusiasm dimmed.

"It left me with a sour taste in my mouth about corporate America," Perry said, adding that he's not as eager to get back to it as he once was.

A former colleague of Perry's, Chris Sesson, who worked with him at Vanguard Mortgage & Title before they both lost their jobs in May, wasn't surprised at all to learn what Perry was doing. His talent as a salesman fits perfectly with the shoeshine business, Sesson said.

"He's really good with people and it benefited him being in (the mortgage) business, cold calling on brokers, doing what he had to do to get business in the door."

A good shoeshine is important, she noted, particularly for people looking for work in a down market.

"It's that little extra that might get you that next job," Sesson said.

Perry hopes that he is - at least indirectly - helping people get a job, much like he once helped them get a house.

He believes the mortgage market will rebound, and when it does, he said he will probably get back into the business. But as long as he's making ends meet, Perry - who still has his shoeshine box from when he was a kid - is happy right where he is.

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