December 6, 2024 3:30 a.m.  

Son Hoping to Help Family-Owned Business Back on Its Feet AM Dec 6 KB

A son who grew up in Roseburg is hoping to help his parent’s family-owned business get back on its feet, following a fire that caused heavy damage early Monday morning.

Joseph Lee is a 2004 graduate of Roseburg High School and now lives out of state. His parents, James and Young Lee have operated Harvard Shoe Repair on West Harvard Avenue since 1990.

Just before 2:45 a.m. Monday, the Roseburg Fire Department responded to a fire at the business. The large commercial structure includes the shoe repair store, two other businesses and 2 residential units, which are on the backside of the building. Lee said the fire was isolated to Harvard Shoe Repair. A secondary fire was reported a short time later at a dumpster just west of the business.

Lee said Harvard Shoe Repair suffered massive structural, smoke and water damage. Lee said he has opened a GoFundMe campaign as insurance will not cover most of his parent’s losses. That includes about 100 pairs of shoes that were burned, ruined by water or looted, rare vintage Singer sewing machines and vintage Sutton Landis polishing, brush, and stitching machines. Lee said over 200 pounds of leather was burned or damaged. Several hundred bottles of polish, thread and rubber soles were all destroyed. Also lost were computers and digital cameras. Lee said if they were able to replace everything that was lost, the cost would be about $25,000. This does not include lost income.

Lee said his parents are ages 69 and 72. He said the store is the last standing shoe repair business in Douglas County. The GoFundMe link to help is: https://gofund.me/e537f5bf

Lee calls the fire, “An act of arson”, blaming threatening text messages from a tenant. A spokesperson for the Roseburg Fire Department told News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN that the cause of the fire is still under investigation. More information is expected in a week or two.