After a two-year search, Hamilton's only shoe repair shop has finally found a new home.

The opening of the new Heel Quik store on the second floor of Washington Mall comes with some relief for Darren Booth who co-owns the shop with his wife Suzanne DeCouto.

Theirs was amongst a handful of businesses asked to vacate their shops after Gibbons Company decided to expand its own retail offerings into the Church Street mall which borders its own department store.

"We can't blame them. They are busy," said Mr. Booth who adds however that the situation has been hard for all mall tenants as the Gibbons Company charged the lowest rents in Hamilton.

His days of paying $43 per square foot in his former 650 square foot space are a thing of his past with his new rent almost double in the new 800-square-foot space in Washington Mall.

Given the rarity of retail space in Hamilton however, he is not complaining ? especially since it took him two years to get into the mall and the list of Bermudians waiting for similar space so that they can open their own shops remains very long. He also notes that the rents are not high compared to what retailers would pay in huge cities abroad.

The increased cost will however be absorbed slightly by customers although the increase on repairs is a ten percent higher. As an alternative, he has expanded his retail offerings with a greater selection of luggage, women's handbags and laptop cases and what looks like every shoe polish brand, shoe lace and insole product on display in the shop.

In a city where office and retail banking space are far more available and cheaper to rent than retail space, at least one his former retailing neighbours in the Church Street premises remains in limbo.

While Kodak Express Photo Labs has simply combined its shop into a sister branch located in Washington Mall, the owner of Phones Plus is continuing to search for suitable new space to move into before his lease runs out.