SOUTH PORTLAND — Ed Lechner picked up a white leather shoe with teal details and a silver zipper.

“Women like shoes like this nowadays,” he said. They were Clarks, the same brand as the dark brown leather shoes he wore for the special occasion.

He’s 90 and has dementia, but he still knows his way around a shoe.  

“They’re nice looking for a young man,” he said, looking down at his favorite shoes for the past few years. “I’m an old man, and I still use them.” 

Lechner is what people in the footwear industry call an “old shoe dog.” He sold shoes for more than 50 years before retiring last fall from owning and operating Selby Shoes Etc. on Maine Mall Road in South Portland for more than 30 years. 

Representatives from the Boston Shoe Travelers Association, an organization that connects shoe lines to shoe stores, presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award on Tuesday as staff and family members celebrated his contributions to the local community through his business.

Lechner was always dedicated to his independent shoe business, which grew over time. What started as a leased space in a women’s department store became its own brick-and-mortar location in the mall. The business continued to grow, and after 17 years, it moved five doors down to its current space, which was twice the size. The business has been in that location for 14 years and has received multiple Best of 207 gold medals for shoe stores. 

He was the first one in the store and the last one to leave at night, said Paul Adams, who worked with Lechner for decades.

“He paid attention to detail,” Adams said. Lechner remembered people, their names and what they were looking for in a shoe. And he didn’t hesitate to keep the store open a little later if people were still browsing. 

Lechner always treated staff and customers like family, according to Adams. 

And it became a family business.

His son, Jeff, now owns and operates the place, and his granddaughter, Ashley Cormier, works there too. She started helping out on Sundays when she was 10 or 11, and found her way to the family business.

“He seemed to like it so much, so he asked me to join,” Jeff Lechner said. 

Customers felt the love, too.  

Behind the cashier station, there are shelves and shelves of miniature shoes, gifts from customers. Pink heels. Cork sandals. A few cowboy boots. There are photographs and clipped obituaries for late employees and frequent customers on the bottom level of the middle shelf. Lechner referred to each by name. 

And in the corner of the store, there’s a hanging shelf of shoes that aren’t for sale. There’s a pair of narrow leather heeled boots and heels with purple suede footbeds, both more than 80 years old. 

The shoe professionals inspected and admired the craftsmanship as Lechner looked on with pride.