Unger’s Shoes, which sells orthopedic shoes, is the oldest shoe store in the Ironton area. Gene Unger began selling shoes by leasing the shoe department at Gambler’s Department Store from 1937 to 1942. After coming home from World War II, he opened his own shop, Unger’s Shoes, in 1946 in an Art Moderne-style building, a rarity in Appalachia. Unger died in 1995, but his family has continued to run and work in the store, which now boasts two board-certified staff members who can deal with prescriptions from physicians.
Joseph “Gene” Eugene Unger worked at a variety of jobs, such as postman and milkman, before becoming a shoe salesman. His association with shoes seems to have started when he got a job in the Selby Shoe Factory in the 1920s. In