The founder of Exec-U-Shine Hospitality Services, a shoe shining outfit with stands from D.C. to the Maryland capitol, Wright goes to Annapolis to serve state lawmakers during the General Assembly. He got his start in 1980 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. How did you get into shoe shining?
You never know where you’re going to end up after high school and college, and I am a college graduate. I’m originally from Buffalo, N.Y., and graduated from the state university at Buffalo, but I came to Washington in the late 1970s and I worked at the FBI field office for a few years. But I noticed that in Washington the market was totally different from what I was accustomed to in Buffalo, a blue-collar city, and I wanted to fill a need.
Is it a rare profession these days?
The fascinating thing about the shoe polishing business is we’ve lost almost an entire generation of service providers in this particular service sector. The demand is still there, but there’s no one providing it. So I thought this would be an excellent, American entrepreneurial experience.
When did you start working in Annapolis?
There was a gentleman named Jimmy Chambers who provided the service in the State House for a generation, and when he passed away, the shoe polishing service in the State House in Annapolis was unattended for about four or five years. I just happened to have Del. Michael Vaughn on my shoe-polishing unit at the Hyatt on Capitol Hill, and he presented the opportunity to me.
Are their differences between D.C. and Annapolis customers?
For the most part they’re both legislative-driven. In Washington at the Hyatt Regency property, all my clients are government affairs and legislative affairs groups that meet in the hotel. In Annapolis, unlike on Capitol Hill, I actually have the elected officials on the chair and the lobbyists.
– Ben Giles
