After 65 years, the sole of East Lansing is closing its doors.

Like many of the shoes of customers looking for a new pair, Tonnie and John Temple, owners of the MSU Bootery, are worn out.

The couple has decided it is time to close down the family business at 217 E. Grand River Ave. and move on to something new.

“It’s time for a big change,” Tonnie said. “We might go into another career, but I don’t know.

“We’re going to do something different, maybe we’ll get another degree.”

The shoe store, which has been an independent and family-owned business for the past 65 years, has many loyal customers who like the personal service they receive from the family.

“We are a vanishing breed,” Tonnie said. “We get down and put the shoes on people’s feet, you just don’t see that anymore.”

Tonnie said she and her husband chose not to sell the store because they would be losing their reputation as a consumer-friendly store.

“People just want to buy it for its name,” she said. “Nobody wants to pay for good will.”

John Temple, who’s been a part of the business for 31 years, said the city has changed during the years - so has the shoe store.

“We have had to change our aspect of who we are geared to,” he said. “With the advent of transportation and the advent of more shopping centers it’s not as captive of an audience like East Lansing used to be.

“We have to branch out and have a wider scope of advertising to get people in.”

East Lansing resident Betsy Scala, who attended MSU in the 1970s, said the closing hasn’t sunk in yet.

“I don’t know what I’ll do, first Jacobson’s and now the Bootery,” she said.

Tonnie believes without her store along Grand River Avenue, the downtown will have a different look and feel.

“People will miss the personalized service that you get with independently owned stores,” she said. “It is no longer going to have that homey feeling.”