Downtown Auburn’s shoe repair shop has new owners and some added services.

Granite Bay resident Tina Thornton and Steven Zuniga took over Shoe Fix earlier this year, adding podorthic care services.

Zuniga, a Pittsburg resident, has been in the shoe business all his adult life and had a shop in the Bay Area. He’s worked as a sales representative for shoe suppliers and has been a podorthist for seven years. Thornton and Zuniga previously worked for Larry’s Comfort Shoes in Sacramento.

Thornton also has podorthist certification.

“A podorthist takes care of foot pain,” she explained.

That includes making and manufacturing orthotics — removable, custom-fitted shoe inserts — and performing shoe modifications.

The average cost for a full-length orthotic runs about $350, she said.

“The key is we make them and manufacture them right in the Auburn store,” she said.

It usually takes about three weeks for delivery.

“I think there’s a giant need,” Thornton said. “There are so many people coming to us with foot pain.”

That pain can arise from a variety of issues, often associated with diabetes, leg discrepancies, plantar fasciitis or polio.

Nevada City resident Ron Keeley has been seeing Zuniga for foot issues for quite awhile.

“I was in pain every step I took,” Keeley said. “Now I’m walking just fine and it is because of everything he did. And he takes care of adjustments at no extra charge.”

Zuniga started by making casts of Keeley’s feet.

“Which is pretty typical,” Keeley said. “He then made inserts to go into my shoes and then widened my shoes and put kind of a structural thing on the sides so the shoes allowed me to walk pretty normally.”

Since then, he has continued to visit Zuniga for foot care.

“I will buy shoes and take them there and he molds them to fit my feet, and away I go a happy camper,” Keeley said.

Although foot care is the store’s specialty, Thornton also continues to offer repair services such as shoe stretching, resoling and new heels.

“We can convert shoes or boots to zipper or replace zippers,” she said.

She also dyes shoes.

“That’s one of my favorite things to do, especially for weddings,” Thornton said.

Cost for replacing a heel runs from $9.50 to $22 with turnaround in about a week.

“We always polish, condition and shine the shoes before they go back out,” she said.

Thornton and Zuniga recently returned from a symposium in Arizona as part of keeping current on training credits and their podorthic license.

“We met with a lot of vendors on shoe and shoe modifications,” she said. “We plan to add a few more podorthic needs items such as orthopedic foot gear. We also plan to add more shoes and boots. At this point, a lot is special order.”

Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay@goldcountrymedia.com.