Thursday July 24th 2025
Apache Services, Dalkeith
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Apache Services on Tait Street, just off Dalkeith high street, have been serving their community through shoe repairs, key cutting, engraving, and many more things, for over 42 years with the store being almost left un-touched since opening its doors in 1982.
The family-owned business is now owned by Dalkeith locals Sharlene and Robert Bain, who took over the business from Sharlene’s dad, John Cheney. In taking over the business Sharlene and her husband Robert have left Alpache Services unique look, leaving the key cutting and shoe repair store the same as when Sharlene’s father began it with the addition of some more modern machinery, such as their new glass engraving machine.
Sharlene’s father John, who moved from England to Dalkeith, began the business in 1982, naming the store after him and his wife.
“They got the name from A, for a part of. Paris was my mum’s name and Cheney was my dad’s name. So Apache, a part of Paris and Chene”, Sharlene explained, “My dad would say, A is first in the phone book, that was really important to him.”
John moved from England prior to starting Apache Services. With the goal of starting his own business, he was sent into Edinburgh to do a job for Mr Minit (another shoe repair, key cutting and engraving store) where he met his wife Helen, Sharlene’s mum, who worked at Woolworths on Princess Street. He then started travelling across Scotland training people in the skills of repair, cutting and engraving. Realising he could do it himself, he started his own business to be closer to his wife.
Sharlene explained, “It was a big thing, a big step, coming up to Scotland and opening a business. My mum’s family was very hostile towards him. My grandad offered him £100 on their wedding night to bugger off.”
A collage Sharlene made for her dad's retirement featuring a photo of her dad John when the business first opened.
Feeling a sense of not being welcome, with eggs even getting thrown off the store’s door, John carried on and built a reliable store that is now embedded into Dalkeith’s community.
Working at the store whilst she was at school, Sharlene was very familiar with how Apache Services operated, making the transition to owning her dad’s business smooth.
“It was quite an easy transistion because Robert worked here for a year and a half first and I had worked here when I was at school”, she explained, “The only difficulty we found was that my dad was very old school, so we had to modernise the business to a certain extent and that was really difficult.”
“For instance, my dad had the window all tapered off and blacked out. So we said, ‘we are going to open the window up so people can see in’, he replied with ‘why do people need to see in?’ He was really annoyed.”
Modernising the business to a ‘certain extent’ involved re-wiring the store and changing the organisation of keys, still maintaining the store’s traditional look, even bringing back the statue outside that had become too heavy for Sharlene’s dad to carry in.
The outside of Apache Services with the statue on the right.
Sharlene and Robert had to spend a lot of money getting an electrician to rewire the whole shop, being one of the only changes made.
Another change that the couple introduced recently was the addition of an engraving machine, allowing them to engrave anything onto both glass and metal. This has allowed Apache Services to offer more services to their community alongside bringing in more revenue with the engraving showing popular.
New engraving machine
Robert joined the business before they took it over, helping John, with Sharlene quitting her job in a local school and joining not long after. During this time, Robert was diagnosed with type 4 cancer and only given a short time left to live.
“I came back full-time, quit my job. But it was not long after that Robert got diagnosed”, Sharlene explained, “That was pretty traumatic and we could have lost everything if it wasn’t for my dad because Robert couldn’t come in, I can do bits and pieces but not everything.”
“It was a pretty hellish time. Bob [Robert] was getting more ill, he became ill within about four weeks. Also we had a little flat of mine we kept in Gorebridge and that got broken into and trashed. I had a little bulldog and he died in my arms. When we got broken into they stole cars, and this was all in that period of time Robert was really ill.”
“I tell you what, you don’t realise how hard life can get. But, we got through all the tears we’ve cried and everything’s great now. I think what it taught us is that life isn’t a given and so everyday that we get up it’s good. Even if we are at work and there is a bad atmosphere, we’re together.”
Robert made a remarkable recovery, now being cancer free and continueing to work in the store.
At that time of struggle, John came out of retirement to help out at the shop whilst Robert was going through treatment.
“When my dad came out of retirement, he was brilliant. He stepped up to the mark”.
Turning 80 next year, John decided to completely hand over his business after Robert made his recovery, now only occasionally coming in to sit and chat to customers.
“He enjoys just coming in here and speaking to the customers because what you will see is our customers are amazing, so loyal”.
Sharlene and Robert maintain the strong relationships with their customers that her dad developed, building a strong community with customers and other businesses in the area.
With the cost of living crisis affecting many local businesses across Scotland, Sharlene explained that her loyal customers are one of the main reasons they are still open to this day. Only increasing prices when forced to, Apache Services pride themselves on their relationship with their customers.
A new stream of revenue alongside their engraving machine is trainer cleaning. Attempting to reach a younger demographic, Sharlene introduced a service that allows customers to have their trainers professionally cleaned. This service is unusual for a shop of this kind but is the only service of its kind in the area.
What makes Apache Services different from other repairs, cutting and engraving stores is their dedication to their community. Sharlene explained that the conversations they have with every customer, taking time to speak to everyone, is what differs their shop to a bigger store.
“Sometime’s Bob’s kicking me from under the counter to shut up but it’s the chat that keeps people coming back. It keeps that community kind of feeling.”
With many stores like Apache Services struggling and shutting their doors, Sharlene and Robert are unsure what the future holds but are certain that customer loyalty is one of the main reasons they are still successful.
Sharlene explained, “It’s getting harder. In my dad’s day there were three employees that my dad paid wages to and my mum who would do the stitching. Now it’s just us two here. It’s not easy but we’re quite happy. As we said, we’ll probably just work here and not retire at retirement age but just open less hours.”
Despite Apache Services family-run history Sharlene’s children have no intentions of one day taking over the store.
Being one of the oldest Dalkeith highstreet businesses, alongside the Cavalier Restaurant, Apache Services hold a key space within Dalkeith’s highstreet. Hoping for more collaboration and support between local businesses, Sharlene highlighted issues surrounding Dalkeith’s highstreet.
“I think it’s needed [collaboration between businesses] because I think we’ve lost that. There are issues and not everybody’s an independent business, it all feels a bit distant now. In my dads day, there was definitely more community than now.”
Tweet Share on Facebook
