Our history began back in Calabria, Italy during the early 1940's. Bruno Seraini was the head shoemaker and teacher of the town. If you earned this prestigous position you were considered a "Master".
Anthony Putaro, an apprentice of Bruno, married the master's daughter and began his life in shoe repair. Anthony immigrated to the United States where he set his first shoe repair shop in Brentwood. Anthony's son Frank would be trained in shoe repair his entire life.
When Frank was prepared to move on he opened his own shop in Caste Village. He would stay in Caste Village until 1964 where he re-located to Liberty Ave. in Downtown, Pittsburgh. Frank bought his new shop from John Ullrich. This is where the "Ullrich" name originated.
In 1966 Frank partnered with his uncle Dominick to open a second location in the city on 6th Street; across from Heinz Hall. The new shop would be named Ullrich as well.
In 1978 Dominick migrated back to Italy leaving the business to Frank. He would go on to close the shop on Liberty Ave.
By the 1980's Ullrich was well known around Pittsburgh. In 1981 Rex Streno married Frank's daughter and joined the Ullrich team. Rex would learn everything about shoe repair then in 1991 he would open Ullrich II on Grant Street. The new location was open until 2000.
By the early 2000's Frank would begin to ease into retirement. In January of 2008 Rex would once again relocate Ullrich to Liberty Ave. until 2020. In October 2020 Rex once again relocated Ullrich to the South Hills in Upper St. Clair where the shop remains today. The Ullrich name has been kept for over 100 years.
