Shoe shiner creates mobile shuttle to take his business on the road

WAYNE, Mich. (FOX 2) - "I'm changing lives one pair of shoes at a time," said Elisha Smith. "It's amazing how you can tell the life they live by a person's shoes."

Smith, also known as Mr. E, made a career out of shining shoes but saw it stifled like so many of our livelihoods, this last year.

Shoe shiner creates mobile shuttle that comes to you

Elisha Smith, also known as Mr. E, made a career out of shining shoes but saw it stifled like so many of our livelihoods, this last year.

"At the moment that ends that changes everything and you got to rethink," he said.

Before the pandemic, you would see Elisha Smith with his supplies inside corporate offices, businesses. He was a staple, but now, the way business is done - is different.

"So I had to start at ground zero," he said.

With hard work and a little divine intervention he says, Smith created the shoeshine shuttle - Mr. E's Mobile Shoe Shine.

"What you see right now is a product of a thought that God gave me, (this) bus that has allowed me to create something no one has ever done first time ever," he said.

After four months of modifications, he's mobile.

"I can come right to you I can come right to your place of employment, or your house," Smith said.

Meet Elisha Anderson, AKA Mr. E, who has pivoted with his shoeshine business to go on the road.

You can be contactless - just hand over your shoes or - "If you want to sit in like a king in a chair, the option is all yours, it's up to you," Mr. E said.

"He did a fantastic job it's like i just got these right out of the box," said Kirk Damavolitis.

Smith's customer base is growing and Wednesday he was at Mark Chevrolet in Wayne.

"It's 100 percent awesome to see someone look at adversity and kind of smack that back in the face, as opposed to getting smacked around," Damavolitis said.

It's a dying craft but Mr. E won't allow it to become extinct.