Shawmut Place

Incredibly RUDE, unprofessional and expensive!
This is my first Unilocal review… which shows how angry this place made me. When I asked for a discount on an item because it took much longer than I anticipated — (the tailor went on vacation and forgot about my item for weeks, normally good customer service offers SOMETHING if a customer has a reason to be unhappy), the owner actually yelled at me in front of another customer about how much her rent costs and how she is just a «grandmother» trying to make ends meet, and other people wait even longer for their items to be finished, (not exactly a good thing…), and good luck trying to find another tailor in the neighbourhood (there’s one just up the street on Tremont…). I have never been spoken to by someone like this in a business setting, ever.
I initially came to pick up my item and drop another one off, but instead I took my new business elsewhere (if she would have just given me $ 5 off or showed some kind of appreciation for my business I would have continued to use their services, but she clearly doesn’t understand the concept of good customer service and how to keep clients coming back). No customer wants to be scolded in public. Maybe if they were nicer they wouldn’t be having so much trouble paying rent.
Take your business elsewhere… the staff at Shawmut place feel that they are entitled to charge more than anyone else for bad service, because they think they are the only tailors in town. Wrong. Go to French Cleaners instead.

Stay away and don’t believe anything they say. Work is not done when promised.

If you’re wondering why this place is a beast of a Unilocal three star review stay tuned for some resolution as to why that’s beyond the high water mark for this place.
I brought in a pair of pajama bottoms for my wife that were relatively pricey, they had an elastic waistband only. I said to the woman that I want to the elastic waistband removed completely — and a drawstring waist band put in its place. Not a easy job by any standard, but I think they’ve got this? Yeah.
The woman asked me how long, and I said I don’t know you tell me? She then said «OK Saturday», which would be one week. Explaining that she needed to get a drawstring. Fine. jump forward 9 days & I stop by to pick them up and the woman says they’re not ready and I say why not and she says because it’s Monday and I said right there supposed to be ready on Saturday that was two days ago? She says ha ha OK. That night I got a phone call from a woman there explaining that they looked at the job and it’s going to be very VERY expensive. I explained to her that I didn’t know what that meant? She came back and said well it’s going to be like $ 35. I said great does that mean it’s going to be done this time when I come to pick it up (old Russian woman screaming in the background about how hard the work is going to be not knowing there are other people in the world that speak Russian). Yeah you will have it done. I go in the next day two pairs of jeans and I’m saying to myself this is good karma you’re doing the right thing, dood, popping them on the counter and saying to the very nice woman I need the shortened and I want all of the tags on the inside removed. I think in part recognizing me she says OK squeezing out a very small smile. I reiterated I want to shorten these — I’d like a jean hem on the bottom exactly like it is now and I want all of the tags on the inside removed, all of the tags on the inside removed, anything that is a tag on the inside removed. She says OK sure no problem.
I go in yesterday to pick them up and the total is $ 76 which I am absolutely fine with! I’m not saying it’s cheap, and it certainly wasn’t fast, but at the end of the day, we are in a big city prices are sometimes high and I’m OK with that.
The real issue is one of quality and that is where this place falls right off a freaking cliff! The pajama bottoms have a timberland boot shoe lace as a drawstring. A. Timberland. Boot. Shoelace. OMG. The jeans have a regular trouser hem — flat, lame & generic — no effort — completely disappointing. And all told they removed three tags from inside both pairs upon getting home I had to remove another six or seven at least.
They seem like such lovely people when you go in there and then you look back on it and you understand a bit more. It’s the people who hand write tickets and are scared of technology, it’s the people who don’t take credit cards and are afraid of change that need to go away. They’re looking for any excuse possible to not have a paper trail of their mistakes. I look back at the tickets they wrote there is no information on them at all, nothing! Sure my name & my phone number. .. and then some scribble in the body of the ticket it’s completely insulting and I am to blame for allowing them even an attempt at making me a customer.
End rant.

Warning: keep your dry cleaning ticket, or they might lose track of your stuff.
When my husband picked up our dry cleaning, they gave him his portion of the order and had failed to keep all of our belongings together (ie my dry cleaning was missing). This happened a few times.
I had also dropped off jeans to be tailored; when I went to pick them up a week later, they said they couldn’t find them. The lady took my number and said she would call when they found them. She never called. When we went back they had found my jeans but had still not done the tailoring — two full weeks had passed since I had dropped them off and no work has been.
Lost clothing. No work. No apology. I was really disappointed.

Years ago I would have given Shawmut Place five stars. That was years ago! I went in last week on a Thursday and found the alteration person is never in on Thursday. I went back into town the following day. Met with the alteration woman who assured me the two pieces (a dress and a skirt for minor alterations) would be ready the following Thursday. Drove back into the South End today to pick up the items and they had not been touched. I found the staff to be kind but the management leaves a great deal to be desired. I will no longer use their «services» nor refer any of my clients to use them. This is my first ever Unilocal review and it pains me to give only one star

Delighted! i took a matelasse bedspread to them to have it made into a skirt (sentimental value, great fabric, etc.) and although they told me this only after they had finished making a real work of art, they thought the idea was nuts. «YOU have vision,» one of the Russian ladies said admiringly. That may be true, but THEY have talent. We had had some original negotiation about the price; in the end I think we were all — yes — delighted.
They kept in touch with me by phone throughout the process, asked me to come in for a fitting, honored my last-​minute request for pockets, and let me know when it was done earlier than promised. I have never had anything made before, but now I won’t hesitate.

Spend a few extra dollars and got to Newbury Tailoring for all of your tailoring needs. The women who work here are all nice enough, but the work is subpar.

I’ve had a few things tailored here and always get a great result. I brought in a dress that needed to be taken in, and the alteration was somewhat complicated, but it ended up fitting like a glove. The seamstress is russian and uses another girl there to help translate. She does amazing work — I doubt any americans are trained this way. I think the price is reasonable for the skill. They are also accommodating if you need something quickly.

This is my second time leaving Shawmut place a happy camper. I brought a bridesmaids dress in a few months ago and it was a pretty easy job, taking up the hem and tightening up the straps since they would fall off the shoulders. Looked great.
Brought another dress in on Monday, needed to be taken out a little (ugh embarrassing) and hemmed. I have no idea how these things work and didn’t even know if it is possible. They said it was no problem and would be ready for me to try on the day before I needed it (a week and a half later). Well I got a call yesterday (Thursday) that it was ready. SO fast for all that work! I just went in and tried it on and it’s perfect. I don’t know how they did it but it looks perfect. I am SO happy. It wasn’t cheap ($ 55 alone for the hem and $ 55 for the letting out) but totally worth it since I know it’s not a easy job!
Highly recommend.

I had walked by Shawmut Place on several instances before having them tailor /​reinforce stitching on a jacket. Based on my experience using another shop nearby, I was bracing myself for a 2 week wait and a hefty price. Not only was the cost less than ½ of what I anticipated, they turned it around that day! Actually, they quoted it would be done at 5:00, then called at 1:30 stating it was done. Great service + pricing at Shawmut Place! I’m sold.

Rude, way over priced and did I mention rude! I especially like it when they talk about you in Russian, and then switch to English to tell you how much something will be — take your business else where!

It’s been a while since the alterations, so this update is due … incredible work. All the jeans have their original bottoms, and the pair that was somehow blown out at the seat is now totally wearable. No, it’s not cheap, at 24.50 for hemming w/​the original bottoms (18 w/​o), but it’s totally worth it. I’ve since had them repair a pair of khakis that had a hole in the crotch (seriously, what’s wrong with my crotch?) and they’ve hemmed a pair of pretty pricey pants, too, now that I trust them.
Their next project: elbow patches for a cardigan that developed a hole in the elbow. I trust it will go well.

shawmut is still the bomb! irina is an insanely talented seamstress.
i bought a really cute dress from french connection that was unfortunately a little too big in the neckline/​shoulders. but it had these really cute rouched cap sleeves i was worried would get messed up if i tried to get it tailored at all. i brought it into shawmut and of course it was no problem. after an in-​between dialogue using the counter woman as an interpreter i got my point across and was quoted $ 65 (ouch) since they would need to cut a new neckline and do drastic alterations. well, i just picked it up today and it looks FANTASTIC!!! the price was worth it — you would never even guess it was altered.

Too stupid to realize it’s a good idea to keep your regular customers happy.
I gave this place about $ 2000 in business a year in dry cleaning and tailoring for five years. Then they ruined a garment of mine. When I brought it to their attention, they agreed it was their fault (as they’d successfully cleaned it several times before without damaging it), and promised restitution.
I would have settled for about $ 60, based on the fact that they’d done good work for me, the piece was worth about $ 300 brand new, and because, you know, stuff happens. But the promise turned into a series of stalling tactics, and after about two months I said, «Okay, I’m starting to think you’re never going to make good on this: What’s the deal?» At this point they changed their tune, claiming that the problem was now my fault for the garment not having a care tag on it.
«What about the fact that you’d cleaned it before without damaging it, and what about your promise to make good on it?» They were reneging. «What if I choose to take my two grand a year in business somewhere else?» A shrug. «You realize that I’ll tell everyone in the neighborhood this story?» A shrug again.
So for the last few years, my $ 2K a year has gone to a nearby competitor, as well as the business of at least a half-​dozen friends who heard my story. Shawmut Place’s owners are both dishonest *and* stupid.