Rino’s Italian Shoe Centre

I give this place zero stars. I brought a pair of my favourite leather shoes in that we’re dirty and just needed a good clean and polish. I walked in with them and showed them to the older man that works there and asked him if he could clean them. He said yes it was fine and it should be ready by the weekend. I go to pick them up and he can’t find them I stood there for about 10 mins as he was looking everywhere I was worried that they were taken by someone else since they leave everyone’s shoes right out in the front for anyone to see and touch. He tells me to leave my number and he will find them and call me. A few days go by and I get no call so I call them the man who answered the phone was rude and told me he couldn’t help me and to call back later. The next day I walk back in to get my shoes and fear that they are gone forever and they had found them and didn’t bother to call me. They were sitting out in front on a shelf in the dirty bag that I brought them in and still dirty it looked like he just had run them under a tap and smooshed the dirt around. I was not impressed and said to him that he did not clean them and he argued with me that he did and he wanted me to pay so I paid anyways even though I didn’t feel like I should because they were not clean. After I left about an hour later I get a phone call from him telling me to pay my bill?! I did pay even though I shouldn’t of. This place is horrible please do not go there I will never go there again.

Unfortunately, I think its time for Rino to retire. I have taken shoes there for years, and although the work isn’t great, its been good enough, with very few other options (none that I know of) in the neighbourhood.
My mum had asked me to take in two pairs of her shoes in as she is from out of town. They both needed minor repairs and I was told to come back in a week. When I returned, they had no idea where the shoes were. I returned 3 other separate times to Rinos (grandson? a super unfriendly, unhelpful kid) and other workers, including Rino who could not find the shoes! Upon my ⁴⁄₅^th visit I was told that again they couldn’t find them. This was after they had finally called (3 months later) to tell me I could pick up the shoes. After another 30 + minutes of searching, yes, get ready to get up on a stool and go in the back and look for yourself, I left feeling downhearted that my mum would not have her 2 pairs of comfy shoes that she wanted to take on a big trip.
Rino did find the shoes and caught me walking to the car. I was still charged $ 25 bucks for the minor repairs and massive inconvenience. If he wasn’t so old and out of it I would have argued that the multiples visit had actually cost me money in time and travel, but decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.
I will not be back. Not for anything. Also, the shoes were fixed decently, but had not been polished or any apparent love put into them. Its unfortunate as Im sure in his day, he probably ran a pretty sweet shop. At this point I think he needs to throw in the towel and let our poor soles rest ;)

To be fair, I never had my shoes repaired here. This is what happened though:
I walked in with a smile, greeted by a frown. It almost felt like her body language was saying, «Get out.» She was informational and explained what she could do, which sounded great and not for too much money.
I asked how long it’d take to get them done, and she languidly pointed out how much work she had ahead of me, and that her family members’ shoes had to be repaired first. Fair enough but she didn’t seem to be in any amount of hurry.
Nonetheless, I chose what work I wanted and left my shoes with her, slightly apprehensive based on her attitude but it seemed that they’d been there forever and were a real shoe repair shop.
I went home, and THEN… read Unilocal reviews. I feared my precious $ 400 shoes were going to look like trash once returned and immediately went back the next day to retrieve them, luckily unworked on.
The elder man is very nice, but I will never go anywhere before reading Unilocal again!!!

Wow… worst experience ever. If you value your shoes DO NOT take them here. I took my shoes in to get the front sole glued cause there was a small area where it was coming away from the shoe and I also asked for them to be polished up. I come back two days later and the guy working there gives me my shoes… sole was not glued, one shoe had a really blotchy look to it and the heels had been redone!!! Rino had worked on my shoes so the worker that handed them to me said he had no idea why Rino did what he did and he apologized and didn’t charge me. The original heel was butchered… he took too much off when he re-​soled them. I didn’t even ask for a new sole cause I just had them done about 6 months ago. What is this guy thinking. The worker apologized and admitted that the shoes looked bad and he tried to polish them for me but couldn’t fix Rino’s botch job. He even said that the pick up tag said polish on it so he couldn’t understand why the heel was done. I took my shoes and went to Dayton to see if they could be fixed… the guy there was great and fixed the crappy polish job. Stay away from Rino’s

You live and learn.
You make mistakes. Such is the nature of life.
Brining my boots to Rino’s boot repair store was such a mistake.
I had this wonderful pair of Mexican cowboy boots that had been my favourite for so many years but there was a hole in the sole that needed repairing.
When I brought them in I was told it can be fixed.
When I went to pick them up I was told the job couldn’t be done.
I was shown the boots which were ripped apart into shreds.
«Do you want to keep them or shall we throw them away for you?»
Same occasion different pair of boots.
One day after picking up my newly fixed boots I was away travelling on a 2 month assignment and those boots where the only footwear I had on me.
Of course the newly fixed heels fell off, first one, then the other.
It was an unnecessary nightmare.
Luckily a friend found the heels on the street and it was arduous to find a cobbler in a foreign country who was kind enough to nail the heels onto my boots, which it turned had only been crudely glued on by one of the staff at Rino’s (wish I had noticed that earlier).
Take into consideration that I was charged over 40 bucks for that pleasure!
I could continue all night sharing my experiences about the charlatan work of above repair shop.
Might have been good in the past I keep hearing but resting on former glory while ripping customers off will eventually backfire.
Especially with Queen Bitch, the grumpy lady on the front desk running the show. Clearly, the concern is not customer service, trustworthiness or good craftsmanship but how to rinse and overcharge customers for rotten work while they can.
And here it is again. Arrivederci Rino’s Boot Repair!!!
I am going to get my boots fixed at a shop in Gastown now.

*EDIT*
STAY AWAY
I will NEVER use this business again. When i picked up my boots they had been dyed, i was given no special instructions or any information. this dye is now ruining my clothes, socks and floors (YES they dyed the heels and soles). I’ve gone through a half roll of paper towels trying to wipe off excess dye after letting them dry for a week. I have to now find another shoe repair shop to help me. I don’t know what to do with these boots. if you touch them your hands turn black. the service is awful, their work is awful. I don’t know how they stay in business? Dayton should be conscious of how their image is affected by sharing a store front with Rino.
All the positive reviews of Rino come from robots? who only make positive reviews and don’t seem to even have a personal service story.

Sometimes there’s someone there; sometimes not. Sometimes you can understand what they’re telling you about why you dropped your boots off there two weeks ago, expecting them within a few days (as advertised by the person who served you), but they don’t have them ready; sometimes not.
Basically completely unreliable. I recommend finding somewhere else if you actually need your shoes repaired.

Fast service and a job well done by a notorious pro. I had no doubt that he would do a great job. Front desk lady was also super friendly.

Ive used these guys for a few yrs, and gone are the good old days from the old Broadway location, since the move and the change of staff they are now off the map with poor service, to bad, they are just not talking to each other, its a bit of a gong show, they offer no warranty on their work and repairs. After 3 months my crappy new zipper broke, and all 3 workers including the boss had different stories, She said: «We dont warranty work for ever» (uhmm 3 months isnt for ever) they scammed me into second full price repair of $ 50… I asked why did you repair it when you knew I wanted warranty on it since its only been a couple of months… And so the one star gets posted.

This guy does footwear… he makes custom footwear, he repairs it, he will make your footwear look like new. From boots, to high heels and inbetween this is your man.
This guy is 77 years old, and has a belt-​full of experience to go with it. I dunno how long this guy will last but he has done footwear for movie stars like Sharon Stone, Robin Williams… even the late Andre the ‘Giant’ .
His store is just an old shoe repair shop and he shares equipment with Dayton boots beside him, I guess they were partners in the past because they certainly have a connection.
I’m a bit sad that old shoe repair guys are slowly fading away… both the techs and the whole industry.

I worked around the world as a pianist/​entertainer for 30 years. In the year 2001 a friend in the movie wardrobe business referred me to Rino’s, at Broadway & Manitoba.
They made me 3 pairs of men’s shoes according to my own design, for $ 400.00 — $ 500.00 a pair and for an additional $ 30.00 even made a matching belt. Andre of Beverly Hills, would have charged $ 1,400.00 a pair –sans belt.
Rino’s even did one pair as a rush with a 4 day turnaround, at no extra charge.
I have only had to have the shoes they made repaired twice since and they have been used A LOT! i.e. 7 days a week for 4 months at a time.
I can vouch for the excellent fit, value, service and reliability of Rino’s, at Broadway and Manitoba, and as it is re-​soling time, hope there has been no change in the quality since the change in their location.
–Kemble 2012

Want your shoes fixed? Go somewhere else!
Total count:
5 weeks total,
4 pairs of footwear, 4 weeks they had each pair of shoes,
3 pairs lost,
2 drop-​offs,
1 customer not coming back,
0 repairs done.
I had a coupon so decided to try these guys. I dropped off one pair of boots, then another 3 pairs of shoes a week later.
I started calling two and a half weeks after dropping off the first pair and kept being told they’d be ready in a couple of days. Almost 4 weeks (26 days) after I dropped them off, I finally got a call from them saying that they couldn’t fix the pair that I dropped off. I asked about the other 3 pairs and they couldn’t find them.
I picked up the one pair of boots and took them somewhere else. They were done within a few calendar days.
The 3 PAIRS that they LOST were finally found more than three weeks after those had been dropped off. On the phone they told me they’d be done within a few days. I picked them up 4 weeks after dropping those off — unfixed. I’ll take them elsewhere.
The coupon wasn’t any good since NONE of the 4 pairs were fixed, even after 4 weeks and they lost 3 pairs in that time! I’m not going back. I’d recommend going elsewhere!

Rino is to cobbling what Michael Jackson is to pop. A total superstar. If your fave shoes have suffered wear and tear, cracks, cuts, doggy doo, or whatever, don’t fear. A successful rebuild is possible! Famed with movie biz customers and able to make and fix just about any kind of kicks, this tiny shop may even build your old boots better than the first go-​round. Visit
!