Carly Liotta shines the shoes of an anonymous man at Star Shine at 40 New Street in NYC. (James Messerschmidt)
(James Messerschmidt)
These shoeshine girls will give you clean boots — and dirty thoughts!
Wall Street executives are paying a few extra bucks to get their leather polished at a Financial District shop staffed by hot female workers clad in skimpy shorts and tank tops.
“A lot of people are comparing us to [Hooters], and I can’t really argue,” said Kevin White, 30, owner of Star Shine NYC.
“Obviously, the girls are attractive, but it’s one of those things where it’s a higher-end, classy type of scale,” he said.
The workers — most of whom are attractive 20-somethings — wear tight shorts with the words “Star Shine” written across the butt.
The shop charges $7 per shine, roughly double neighboring shine shops — but the clientele say is it worth it.
“It’s a lot nicer coming here than where I usually go — where my shoeshine guy is 75 years old,” said one Wall Street trader, who stopped by the shop on New Street near Exchange Place yesterday.
He added, “It’s a lot better having attractive girls doing this.”
Workers said they don’t mind the implied sexuality — and power play — that come with the job.
Christine Harnischfeger (above), 23, said she likes the gig because she enjoys being around men. She said she works at Star Shine NYC to earn cash on the side when she’s not coaching basketball.
“It’s a lot of fun . . . I’m a big sports fan, so it’s easy to talk about sports with all the guys,” she said.
“Guys always tell me, ‘You’re way better looking than the last guy who shined my shoes.’ ”
She and other workers were trained by a professional industry shiner and make an hourly wage plus tips, White said.
White declined to say how much he pays the girls per hour. He insisted that he hires his workers partly based on their “personality” — and that he plans to get a permit to serve liquor soon.