Lupe’s Shoe Service

I have been to this place of business twice — once last year to get taps put on character shoes and this a couple days ago. Last year, I don’t remember any issues. They took my character shoes and put the taps on them within a day and I don’t remember how much it was, but it wasn’t expensive.
This past week, another pair of my daughter’s character shoes broke (the heel shifted). She’s in a show right now and needed them fixed asap. Dropped the shoe off at 10 a.m. Thursday morning, and around 10 a.m. on Friday, I received a phone call that her shoe was fixed and the cost would be $ 15. Wonderful service, fast turnaround and great prices. The only downside, if you consider it to be, is they don’t accept credit/​debit cards, but Lupe was sure to let me know that before I drove back to pick up the shoe.

Dropped off a pair of hand made italian suede shoes for cleaning and when i picked them up they werent even the same color! Almost 2 shades darker and the finish was completely ruined– they were no longer suede. The shoes looked better before i dropped them off. And the kicker was the lady didnt even seem apologetic, didnt even care, completely stone face. «Oh im not gonna charge you» she says. Well guess what i wasnt gonna pay anyway. NEVER GOING BACK. Crap service.

I wanted to give this place a try to support small business owners. However, I wouldn’t come back here again. A little more than I typically pay at another place and the quality is okay I was not blown away. Simple fixes like heel taps look great but other shoes still looked the same as when I dropped them off.

I REALLY wanted to like this place. It’s a mom and pop shop and Lupe is super personable at first…
With that said, the quality of their work is beyond horrible. The staff’s customer service is abysmal. Let me explain…
I brought in a pair of $ 80 sandals that had scuffed heels and a pair of beautiful soft leather boots that were also scuffed. Not cut, crumpled up leather, just scuffed. The sandals were beautiful. Dark maroon, almost brown. The boots were gorgeous as $ 250 boots should be. When I picked them, the sandals were dyed olive green brown. I immediately told the lady (not Lupe) that they were ruined. Her attitude was «ok we’ll fix them. You can pick them up in a week.» It took 3 days to ruin them and 7 days to fix them? The same with the boots. They were soft, sumptuous leather that were transformed into cheap plastic looking boots. HORRIBLE!!!
LONG STORY short: I went there 9 times to get my shoes. NINE! They were closed, even though the sign on the door said they were open and the lady behind the counter swore to me that Lupe would be there the following day at the time I said I would come. I was told that Lupe would call me numerous times. no such luck.
My boots are hideous. My sandals don’t go with the outfit I bought them to go with, which is a shame because it’s hard to find an exact match for that shade of maroon. The sandals ended up getting dyed mostly dark brown without my permission. You can still see the maroon color on the parts they missed.
No refund was offered. No apologies. NOTHING. Horrible customer service from everyone including Lupe. Their overall attitude was «so what, go away, we got your money, we don’t care.» When I finally did get to talk to the elusive owner, she made no amends, only to suggest that there was nothing wrong with their workmanship.
HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE!
A «Shoe Repair» business should know how to fix shoes. Wish I had gone to Unilocal first.
Minus a gajillion stars!

I REALLY wanted to support and like this local business. It seems like a very cute mom and pop shop, where «mom» called me honey and gave my little boy candy. I brought a pair of merrell vibram ballet flats in to have a clasp repaired — and was so happy initially with the kind service and the price. (only 1 shoe needed fixing, but I brought both to provide an example). When I picked my shoes up, the clasp was way too loose — and the stitching was really sloppy. Mom wasn’t working that day, so I left the shoes there — and said I would call or stop by on Monday. When I did, I was reassured that they would re-​do them, no problem… (it’s ok, honey, it’s easy to fix!). This time, she worked while I waited — and while the stitching was still pretty awful, the clasp seemed to be better, so I took the shoes home. However, upon closer inspection, I could see it still wasn’t right. I decided to bring it in one more time, simply to ask for my money back. Again, I was reassured — and yes, it’s pretty much my bad at this point — but I gave her one more chance to fix it. And when I picked the shoe up this time, it actually seemed right. A few days later, I wore my shoes for the first time — and at the end of the day, the clasp was completely broken. (!!!) I went back and asked for my money — which was refunded with no argument. I’ve since tried to take the shoes to another repair shop and was told that because of how the clasp broke, leaving too little to work with, they are unable to repair it. So, not only were they unable to fix my shoe — it seems mom and pop managed to make the situation a whole lot worse.

My purse strap broke as soon as I left work yesterday. Luckily we now live in La Mesa, and on a run a few weeks ago, I saw Lupe’s — made a mental note in case I needed anything repaired. Good thing I did!
I went right after work, she took a look at my strap and said she would need to open up the stitching on the other side of the strap to tuck it in and resew it, which would mean I’d have to leave it. Or if I didn’t really care, she could just tuck it in and sew it, and she could do it right then and there. Done! $ 7 and about 5 minutes later (far cheaper than a new purse!), I walked out with a purse with a working strap! Fingers crossed it holds up, because I really do like this purse!

I brought my Louis Vuitton purse here to get the strap fixed. The old lady at the counter promised me that it would be ready in 5 days. I went back after seven days and they got around to it. I almost forgot about it and I didn’t get a phone all from them. I finally picked it up after two weeks and the damn thing broke an hour after using it. I just wasted my money and my husband said to just take it back to Louis Vuitton store. Why didn’t I think of it to begin with. Never going back to this place!

I took a pair of Mephistos to them — I had paid about $ 250.00 for the shoes and I had worn them to death — when I got the shoes back for which I paid $ 85.00 the shoes were like the brand new shoes I had bought years before — I am so thrilled to have my favorite shoes back — I hate breaking in new shoes

I cant decide between two or three stars. I love that its a family run business and how nice they are. I am just not in love with what they did to my boots.
To their defense, my boots were SUPER worn down. I totally get that. But, they charged me 85 dollars. However, if the work is nice than I am fine with paying 100 dollars because those are my favorite boots.
When I got them back, they looked good. When I went to wear them to work I discovered they didn’t feel right. The sole on the right shoe was slanted down and the sole on my left shoe was slanted up. So I was walking really awkwardly, like I need any help with that. And, to top it off, I think they had to stretch my shoes out or something, because now they are way too big. And the inside of the shoes are all ripped still. I’m so bummed I had this experience. Now I have to go somewhere else and pay them to fix it. These boots I paid 30 bucks for are costing me and arm and a leg.

I have used lupes to repair leather purse and sole some slippers. Prices rock, done on time and the family is nice. If you tell them what you want they will do it

Started off with a good impression when I brought in my boots to be resoled. They showed me a selection of good quality Vibram soles, had a reasonable price for the labor. I was specific that I expected very good work, and was reassured that «we only do good work.»
Picked up my boots as scheduled and when I get them home, I notice that when they trimmed the edge of the new sole to fit the midsole, they actually cut too far, slicing the midsole, cutting part of the stitching holding the midsole to the upper, and actually cutting into the leather upper of my boot.
I took them back and they told me they would replace the midsole, but they just restitched the portion of the stitching they had cut through. So now my boots that had perfect uppers when I brought them in for a resole have a small cut in the leather upper, and the stitching on the midsole is damaged. After some negotiation, the owner agreed to refund me a portion of the labor I paid.
The boots are still functionally ok, and resole job is holding up fine so far, but it irritates me that they basically damaged my boots, and apparently their standard for «good work» allows damaging the midsole on my boots and cutting the leather upper.
It’s a pretty friendly, family owned type of place, and I’m sure they’re ok for simple, quick repairs, but because of the lack of attention to detail and what I think is mediocre work, I won’t be back.

I’ve been putting off writing this review… hard to decide between 3 and 4 stars. But I’m thinking it’s more important to write what I think, then decide. Here’s how my experience went:
On the plus side, it’s a cool little family run business. Friendly staff. Prices are reasonable. They do a LOT of different types of repairs. I saw some kickboxing bags from the martial arts place a few doors down. I figure I could take a backpack or totebag or who knows what to them to have it fixed.
The downside: I left two pairs of shoes: one to for a shine & heels, the other, just a shine. I saw the shoes marked accordingly. When I came to pick up the shoes, heels had been done on both. Not only did it cost about twice as much for heels (maybe $ 14 vs $ 7?), I didn’t WANT the heels done on the one pair of shoes. They weren’t THAT worn out, and they had a quiet rubber heel that I liked. And I didn’t like those shoes THAT much! The new heels weren’t rubber, so they are noisy and more slippery.
BUT…I still wanted my shoes, and they looked better, so I just kept my mouth shut and paid for the difference. I figured that the business needed the money more than I did, and it wasn’t like my shoes were ruined.
On a side note, you might want to wipe down your shoes after picking them up. After walking on a white rug with my newly shined shoes, many streaks were left behind… yikes!
So, I started off with 4 stars, but after writing, I decided to give 3. In spite of that, I will go back… Oh yeah, bring quarters – all the parking nearby is metered.

I am very hard on my shoes and wear the heels down pretty regularly. I thought my shoes were beyond repair, but Lupe’s fixed them! I also took them a pair of shoes that had half of the heel removed by my puppy, and Lupe’s was able to fix those shoes, too. The price was reasonable and the staff was very friendly. I’ll be taking all of my shoes-​in-​need to Lupe’s!

I like backpacks, and I have a allot of them. When my favorite yellow camelback ripped I was bummed. Why was it my favorite? 1) because its bright yellow and reflective and it gives me a fake sense of security that people will see me better when I’m on my motorcycle 2) its kinda big 3) It has motorcycle grease all over it and it smells as such, which makes me feel tough 4) its a camelback. Anyway, to get back to Lupes I was bummed out and thought it would cost a fortune to fix and I might have to part ith it. Well, Lupe’s fixed it for under 5 bucks. She told me she would have it ready in a few hours. The work was great and my bag is saved. Now I’m back to being an easy to spot target for assholes that want to run me over on the freeway…