Odessa Shoe Repair

I took in a pair of black leather Coach boots that I loved and desperately didn’t want to have to replace. They had just made it through a very long, snowy Boston winter and my feet were always wet by the end of a wear, so I decided it was time to have the soles replaced.
Pros: I came away from the experience with very durable soles, with lots of traction. The boots were also nicely shined.
Cons: the repair cost me nearly half the cost of the original boot! I was desperate by then and had never had shoes repaired before, so I went with it. They also kept my boots for 3 months! They admitted that they were taking advantage of the fact that it was late spring and I wasn’t wearing them anymore, so they were making other shoe repairs a priority over mine. 3 months seems excessive, though. After checking every 3 weeks, they finally said they’d call me when they were done. I never received a call, so I checked after a month of silence — yep, they were done. Finally, they put little half moons on the bottom toe tip, but mine fell off after an hour of wear — hope they weren’t important…
So, overall — they’re expensive and not very customer service oriented, but I would say they do a quality job. They’re conveniently located to the financial district, so that makes them slightly more appealing, as well.

Pro: the shoes came back looking fairly good — nice job removing salt from my frye boots…
Cons:
1) very expensive!
2) the two owners (?) don’t communicate well and have different prices
3) my short story experience… when I went to pick up my shoes (2 pairs, 1 boot one heel) the tip of my heels on the pumps had not been replaced. the shop tried to tell me I hadn’t paid for them to do that and wanted an additional 10 dollars for that (after spending $ 45 for that pair). They ended up replacing them without the additional $ 10 but it did take my being slightly assertive.

Yeah, so he’s not a fluffy smiley nice guy. Just bring your broken shoes and he’ll do a great job. He knows his stuff.

The level of rudeness and entitlement at this store was so high it was actually impressive. I went in and the person in front of me was asking for a shoe repair. The man working was very negative to her and basically said he couldn’t do it by the time she needed and then backpedaled his way into saying he would. If I’m her I would have just gone somewhere else.
For me, I just wanted a pair of laces. The man insisted that I take off my existing one to measure. He looks like he’s been doing this a while. While I respect the level of precision, it shouldn’t have been too hard of a request. I bet he’s seen it before as they are common shoes. When I went to pay, he wouldn’t accept a card. I get it that the transaction is a small amount. His attitude of shaking his head and pushing the card back at me is what was disappointing. What should have been a one minute lace selection and purchase turned into no purchase and a poor experience.
The place down the street looked at my shoes, gave me the laces sized appropriately and took my credit card. Easy. Go there. It’s in South Station.

Came in for a quick shoe shine, prices were reasonable, and had an enjoyable conversation with the gentlemen behind the counter. Contrary to the reviews previously posted, I had a good experience and I’ll be coming back again.

This is a great place for high end shoes. I own Tom Ford and Gucci and others have ruined the delicate shading and unique colors. Odessa had the skills and experience to handle high end shoes. Trust me on this.

I don’t normally feel compelled to write a negative review but I think this place is a rip-​off. (Note this is the one on High Street since there are several Odessa’s in the city.) I think they charge you by how much they think your shoes are worth rather than the cost of the actual job. I stopped by to drop off three pairs of boots to have the worn heels replaced. He quoted me over $ 30 for one pair, which I thought was a bit pricey. He said that your boots cost over $ 100 – 200, so this cost is nothing. Then he quoted me over $ 50 for the second pair. Before I even got the quote for the 3^rd pair, I left the place with my boots and when down to Santa Cross on Tremont Street. John at Santa Cross, who’s got great reviews, only charged me $ 24 per pair and I even got a pair free because I had accumulated 9 pairs over time. And John is as good as they come when it comes to craftsmanship and honesty. So instead of paying what was going to be $ 130+, I only paid $ 48 at Santa Cross. I will never go back to Odessa to be ripped off. Yes, it’s convenient for those who work in the financial district (and they do have fast turnaround) but I’d rather walk 10 minutes down the street and get a fair price.

Will never come here again. Brought shoes here twice just to have the rubber stopper on the heels replaced and both times I was yelled at by the Owner. Not only that, he also tried to do additional services to my shoes that did not need to be done! I had just bought a pair of heels 1 month before and needed one stopper replaced and he tried to get me to replace the entire sole… not amused.
If you are in desperate need of a repair, than I would recommend going for a quick fix. Otherwise, do not bother going. Not worth the aggravation of getting yelled at for being a client in need of a service. Especially as a repeat customer.

One of the older guys told me re-​soling my shoes would be $ 40. When the shoes were finally ready (a few days late) he refused to take less than $ 80 and wouldn’t even throw in some laces for free at my request. He said a lot of work went into them, but what’s the point of getting an estimate or agreeing to a price beforehand if they’re going to double it? If so much work was necessary, I should’ve been informed of the price increase before they forced it on me.
Price and business practices aside, the machine that they use to «sand down» the sole to match the shape of the shoe damaged the finish around the part that connects to the sole. And of course the sole came off after a month. Money aside, the shoes would’ve been better off if I’d done nothing at all. They’re still wearable, but it’s disappointing that shoes I’d taken such good care of for five plus years were basically ruined at a place where they were supposed to be restored.
Unprofessional in every sense of the word.

I work a minute walk from this place.
I have gone in twice with requests that they have been unable to fulfill.
One time I wanted a pair of sneaker soles fixed ($ 100 limited edition Vans) and the other time I wanted a key cut (oddly shapped key), both times the owners looked like me like I was an idiot for asking for these services.
For the sneaker, the owner told me NOONE GETS SNEAKERS REPAIRED. To which, I replied, I just want the hole in the sole fixed so water doesn’t leak in. Finally, the owner said I can do it but it’s going to cost $ 80 dollars. I said no thanks that is too expensive.
Then the owner looked at me as if I was wasting his time and with hostility. I said I am not coming back here, to which he replied OK and continued to scowl at me. This is terrible business that will only cater to people who are in fancy suits in the financial district.
What the fail to realize is that the majority of the business world is casual now and money is money. Terrible business.

What was I thinking?! I dropped off my battered boots at Odessa @ High Street on Tues, November 8^rd; the first man said he wasn’t sure they could be repaired, and call back when the owner is here @ 2 hours. So I called back, and the owner hemmed and hawed and finally agreed to fix my shoes to the cool tune of $ 80. Sorta nuts, I know, but I love these shoes and getting them fixed was cheaper than buying another pair. The shoes would be ready, they said, on the following Friday the 18^th.
I called before I headed over there on the 18^th, only to learn that no, the shoes were not done, but definitely by next Tuesday.
I get very busy and call again on December 1^st. Guess what — my shoes are STILL NOT READY. «My guy is sick, I’m here all alone, I work here seven days a week…» Did I mention I paid in advance for my repair work? what a sucker. He HOPES that they will be ready on the 6^th.
So if I’m lucky it will have taken a month to fix my shoes; honestly, though, I’m expecting that I’ll call on the 6^th only to have him cry on my shoulder some more about why it’s taken a ridiculous amount of time to do the work. If they’d been honest about the backlog, that would’ve been different. And I would’ve gone someplace else.

Walked into Odessa’s in desperate need of a zipper fix for my 2 month old miu miu sandals, the minute I walk in:
Man: How may I help you?
Me: I have a sandal with a broken zipper
Man: What does that have to do with me? (hysterically laughing)
Me: Well I figured you would fix it for me (nervous laugh)
As soon as I show him my shoe, he repeatedly goes «Oh shoot, Oh shoot, SHOOT.» He walks over to another older man, shows him the shoe and starts speaking in another language.‘
I’m like what’s wrong? He’s like, «This is a very expensive shoe huh?» I’m like, «Sure.» Then he replies, «Well this is a very difficult shoe to fix, the zipper needs to be replaced, and in order for me to do that I have to take apart the whole shoe including the soles, your lookin at about $ 100.00»
As soon as he said this my expression turned blank. I thanked him and walked out. I went over to Jimmy’s in Central square, and he charged me $ 22.00. Thanks Odessa, but no thanks.

This shoe repairman gets 3 stars because actually, he does a good job. He is honest with you about if it’s worth paying (even $ 5) to fix some crappy plastic shoes.
However, if you are relying on the older gentleman who works there to get your shoes, good luck! I went back 2 days after the «ready» date and he couldn’t find my shoes! He looked for 20 min and I tried to go in the back to help– I had to come back a week later when the younger guy was working.
Good repair job but unreliable.

When I went to pick up my shoes today, I learned two things. 1) Be sure to check Unilocal first; and 2) do not go to Odessa Shoe Repair again. Short story, after agreeing to a very expensive shoe repair last week, with a promise that the shoes would be ready today, I walked in to find that they were not ready and «might be ready by the end of the day.» I know this happens, but they did have my phone number. No one thought to call and let me know. What are they going to use my number for? To call me on my birthday to sing Happy Birthday? It’s good to know that there are better alternatives in the same general downtown area (thank you, fellow Unilocal-​ers).

Okay… just tried it again because there are no cobbler’s around the area that charge a reasonable price… BTW the one in 75 Federal is a rip off. anyways– the older man who is nice and quick was there and he fixed my boots on the spot! It took about ten minutes and he was great. I asked him what days he worked so I did not have to go in when the rude man is working and he said he only works in the mornings until about 2pm. So if you want to get your shoes fixed for a reasonable price — go there in the morning! He actually told me that no one likes the rude guy and he needs to talked to him AGAIN– apparently everyone has complained about the man which makes me feel a bit better but I don’t know why they won’t get rid of him– he must be a family member or something.
p. s. the older man’s name is Mario.

Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever received. I walked in to see if they might be able to repair a pair of shoes I have, and while I was there remembered that I had a watch that needs a new battery. I looked around at the other services they offer, like keys and umbrellas, then asked, «Do you happen to repair watches here?» The person behind the counter looked at me and said, «Does this look like a jewelry store to you?» Perhaps it should seam obvious that a shoe repair doesn’t repair watches, but the store around the corner (which I would recommend, but they recently moved) repaired shoes AND watches, as well as keys, umbrellas, etc. A moment later, the guy behind the counter asked, «Does that even seem like a reasonable question?» After that, I didn’t even bother asking about my shoes, I just left.
If I could give this place a 0 rating I would.

Odessa is a great shoe repair place, especially since it’s across the street from my work. The prices aren’t amazingly cheap — it is downtown after all — but they’re pretty darn fair. And they do really good work — they’ve saved a couple pairs of my boots I thought were done for, after getting the heels caught in Boston cobblestones one too many times. I highly recommend Odessa for any shoe repair!