The Cobbler’s Bench

I went here to get suede put on the soles of tennis shoes for social dancing. I’m giving this place two out of five stars because it’s not as good as the average shoe repair place at sueding the soles of shoes, they’re super expensive, and their customer service is so-​so.
Customer service — first of all, the woman who answered the phone when I called in ahead of time to see if this place would indeed suede shoes was not sure and could not possibly walk over to anyone else in the store to ask. Her tone of voice was curt and somewhat angry. She told me I would have to come in. Ok, I did, and one guy (who seemed to be in charge) knew what I was talking about and said they could do this. (Another guy, who seemed to assist the first guy, was stumped, but deferred to the other guy.) The store was very small, and they all communicated easily by talking across the room to each other when I was there. So, if the woman felt like answering my question over the phone, she could have easily turned her head to ask the other two guys there. The store seems to be run by the one guy, with a male assistant in the shoe repair side of things and a female assistant for the desk. The main guy said he’d call when my shoes were ready, but said they’d be done in a week/​Weds.
Thursday came, so I called in to see what was up. The guy who answered the phone said that they were currently working on my shoes, had just started on them today and they should be done soon. Not hearing from them again, I came in a week later after this to pick up the shoes, figuring they should definitely be done by now. When I went to pay, the main guy helped me at the counter but would not take my card. He told me that they tell everyone they are a cash only store when they call someone up to tell them their shoes are done. (Well, as they never called to tell me my shoes were done, they never got to tell me the place was cash only.) I suppose they also could have mentioned this when I dropped off the shoes the first time, or called in to check on their progress. In any event, I had no cash on me and had come in close to closing time so I did not have the time to grab cash and come back. The guy did offer to stay open for me, which was nice. On the off chance I had a dance event that night, it would have been useful, but I had to run other errands and said I’d come back later.
I also noted that the suede came out pretty far from the soles of the shoes, around 1 – 2 mm at any given point. So I asked if before I come back again the suede could be cut to be flush with the soles so that it would not lead to separation of the suede as quickly (it would have got caught up on things and tugged at the suede often) … also, it would look nice. The guy was agreeable and said that he could do that very quickly. After he stated this I thought, «then why didn’t you do this in the first place?»
When I finally came to pick up my shoes today (another week later), the main guy was there again. He remarked that they suede shoes like mine all the time. This statement was also a little odd to me as neither of the other employees knew what I was talking about at all when I first asked if they sueded shoes here, and, the guys did a pretty bad job at it.
Quality of the shoe sueding: Well, as you can tell, I am really not blown away by this. There are still some spots that stick out and now there are some spots where they cut too close and cut into the sides of the soles, too. The edges to the suede is now rough. The surface of it is flat, so that’s pretty good. Without that, they’d be useless as dance shoes. Aesthetically, they’re not super pleasing. I will have to see how long they’ll last. In any event, next time I will either: a) go to another city which is father away but worth the drive, or b) for $ 4.55 + shipping on amazon and the price of glue do it myself next time. As it is, I am tempted to take my own razor blades to the shoes to even things out.
Finally, cost: Well, first of all, they were $ 40 to do, but suede of the same color online was $ 4.55 a yard. That’s quite a mark up. Especially as I’ve talked to other dancers about how easy it is to do it yourself. About 7 years ago in downtown SF I got shoes done for $ 20. I cannot imagine such a mark up, even after a decade, in a place in the country where things are usually much cheaper than SF. But, hey, maybe that’s the going rate now. Even still, at $ 40, one would imagine they would do a great job, and do it right the first time.
I don’t know, the guy said when I was leaving that they do this all the time and I shouldn’t have a problem with it. Hopefully I won’t. But I am not a fan of that sentence because it passively aggressively implied that I should feel differently than I do. Maybe the other folks who get their shoes sueded here are too nice to say anything different. Maybe their shoes were done with better care?

There’s a very specific satisfaction you get from taking in well-​worn shoes and giving them new life for another season or three. I wear the heck out of my shoes. I tromp around in my Gucci wedges through grassy car shows, sandy beaches, cobbled streets, and as you would expect, they get worn out and scuffeed up. But hey, you buy them to wear them right? I mean who buys shoes to just sit there and look pretty?
oh… right.
Cobbler’s Bench did a great job of doing all the things I asked — replacing heels, fixing toes, fixing straps, even stretching out a tight pair of leather sandals. There was no excess glue and they even used a color-​matched compound cement to fill chunks that were missing from one of my Tory wedges. All in all, I’m very happy. I expected that there would have been some sort of courtesy cleaning/​polishing/​conditioning, but there wasn’t, which was surprising.
They’re busy, and there’s a prominent sign that reads something like, «Failure to plan on your part doesn’t automatically constitute an emergency on my part.» My 5 pairs took over 3 weeks.
Cash only.

I found these guys by accident and I am happy to report that I am very pleased with the results! The only reason that they’re getting 4 instead of 5 stars is because when I dropped my shoes off I was quoted 2 weeks and in actuality it ended up being 6 weeks. I picked my shoes up yesterday (3 pairs of heels) and am SO PLEASED with the results!
All 3 pairs look amazing! They did exactly what I asked for and made my favorite pair look like new again. I am so excited to wear them. I will definitely be back if/​when I need any repairs again.
I love that all repairs are done in house and can be explained and discussed because they are the people actually handling the shoes.
Very happy customer!

I got very lucky finding Tony to help me out with a pair of damaged BCBG shoes. When I found him online it was already 15 minutes past his hours on a Saturday, but he still picked up the phone and happily agreed to wait for me to arrive.
Not only was he so kind with his service, but he really does an incredible job with leather.
He repaired the heals of a beautiful pair of very expensive, but very damaged shoes. I was originally concerned that the job would be impossible but Tony assured me they’d look beautiful. When I got them back the next week, they were just as promised. Beautifully repaired, you could hardly tell where the leather had peeled off.
I’ll definitely be bringing back more leather products that I thought were beyond hope and I highly recommend him to everyone else.

Tony did a great and creative job of repairing the handles of my red leather briefcase. He wrapped the shattered handles with nice black leather, and nobody is any the wiser! The cost of this repair was a small fraction of what it would have cost me to replace the entire bag, which is in otherwise pristine condition, so I am very happy about that.
While I was dropping off the bag, the topic of torn Uggs came up. He explained how he could repair my trusty old Uggs, so I dropped those off as well. The repair looks great, and once again, I’m able to continue to make use of a previous investment rather than fork over the excessive funds needed for a new pair!
I’m very happy to have found the Cobbler’s Bench.

Really great and RARE type of place. You can tell they care about fixing things and making them better for you rather than how much they charge you. He fixed a belt for me in what felt like just a few minutes and only charged me 5 bucks. Simple… in and out and no hassle. Furthermore, they are doing several of my AE’s for WAY less than if you send them in to the factory.

This place is amazing! Great prices, great service, great quality… forget taking your items to coach for repair… Take them here for half the cost of coaches supposedly cost of shipping and free repair… They continue to amaze me… I do not hesitate to buy broken items at the store cause I know they can repair them quickly and inexpensively!

Stopped by The Cobbler’s Bench last week to have a pair of AEs resoled that had worn through. He had the shoes completely resoled within a week. They looked incredible. He used a full sole and the price was quite reasonable ($ 59 before tax). The shop also has quite a few shoe care accessories such as polishes and brushes available at reasonable prices.
I will definitely be back.
One drawback: He doesn’t accept credit cards, cash or check only.