General Info

Cities Leather was established in 1918 by Eugenio Guarasci, a shoemaker from Italy, who journeyed to America, entering through Ellis Island, at the turn of the century. He settled in Syracuse. In addition to being a shoemaker, he published the Italian paper on the north side of Syracuse, a predominately Italian section of the city. He was also the owner of several income properties in the city. Cities Leather passed from Eugenio to Francesco ( Frank ) Mario Guarasci during World War II, when Eugene passed away. At this time, Cities Leather sold leather, sewing machines and shoe findings. Frank began dabbling in repairing women's handbags, leather jackets and other items in addition to shoes in an effort to expand the business. One day, a representative of American Airlines at Hancock Airport in Syracuse, New York was in a bind and asked Frank if he could repair a broken piece of luggage. Frank found a way to repair the broken hardside and a commercial luggage repair business was born. Frank worked side by side with his son James ( Jim ) for decades, before passing the business on to Jim in the early 80's so he could retire. Jim's wife, Rebecca, who was employed as a paralegal and an office manager decided to join Jim at Cities Leather in 1989. With her, she brought strong sense of business diplomacy and fairness, computer skills, and many other talents that have been instrumental to the continuing success of Cities Leather. Today, we remain a retail store, warranty repair shop and commercial airlines repair facility. Our goal is, and always has been customer service and top quality repair work. Cities Leather and Luggage maintains its small business roots and values and, since 1947, is still located in the same location, the Little Italy district of Syracuse.