Cobbler’s Rogers Park Shoe Repair

Expensive prices, cash only in advance and no consistent store hours. I have been there for the last two days on a Friday and Saturday mid afternoon only to see they are closed. It’s the weekend?! They don’t have store hours displayed for potential customers who walk by and they didn’t post any information on why they were unconventionally closed. Additionally, the store itself is cluttered and dated in time.
I love to support small businesses and «Mom and Pop» stores (esp if they have a long standing history in the community) but this place seems completely careless. It’s unfortunate.

Had been using this service for years and at first they were good and reasonable. The repairs become less durable and poorer quality over the years. Never liked the pay in advance thing, and now I know why.
Had two beautiful pairs of boots that had stretched out in the calves. I asked them to put an elastic gusset in the backs, as I had seen on other boots and had a photo of what I wanted. The backs of the boots had a space that would fit the gusset, too. $ 75 each for the work, which seemed expensive but given the price of new boots I agreed.
It took 2 months, not the promised 2 weeks, and many calls from me to finally get my boots. They kept on telling me they are waiting to get the supplies in the right colors. When I finally got them, they had no elastic gusset where I’d shown them what I wanted. Instead they had glued (!) a leather band inside the boot which did absolutely nothing to fit the calves better so the boots would stay up. In fact what this did is to stretch the leather more and make the shaft so heavy that it fell down almost as soon as I pulled it up! $ 150 wasted and my boots are useless. I feel foolish for paying for this nonsense, but I trusted them. Once they have your cash, you’re stuck. Don’t use this service.

This is a wonderful old school establishment! I bought a pair of vintage heels, but will surely be back for their leather work! Highly recommended for anyone trying to save their shoes or jackets.

I have a pair of nice Frye Boots, and they were really beat up. I had worn them for a year in Africa and the leather was worn and in some places had begun to tear. I took them here and they came back with the leather looking supple and almost new, all the tears cemented closed and Good-​Year brand heels replacing the worn out heels from before. I am very pleased. Perhaps, for a pair of cheap shoes, I wouldn’t want to spend the kind of money this sort of repair costs, but I’ve had these boots for a decade, and now I think they’ll serve me another decade.

I have tried this place three times, and each time is a repeat disappointment. I keep trying as this is the nearest cobbler. However, his personal style of interaction is terse, unpleasant and even slightly abrasive. He consistently seems to arbitrarily conjure up prices for services that are wildly inflated. In contrast to Ted’s cobbler on damen and Lawrence, for example. He also gruffly requests cash only, in advance of work done — which is a sad business tactic that leaves a customer feeling like they are working to earn HIS trust and business rather than the other way around.

George is a great business owner, inam super impresse with his quality of work. I think that in order to cut through the noise about his prices and the cash only mandate I need to clarify why I think this is such a gem.
There aren’t many cobblers left in Chicago or anywhere outside of the UK really; there are even fewer that really believe in what they do and deliver the quality needed to allow a «benchmade shoe» to last 10+ years. This is where George and his staff excel. I brought in 3 pairs of Allen Edmonds values at approx $ 1100. I am a fan of footware a I see shoes as investments, so I am always scared to let someone new work of my shoes. George put an oak stacked heel and vibram rubber cap on one pair and stretched the vamp on the other two new pairs to give me a better fit. This took 5 days and cost $ 80 cash — I would give him 6 stars for this work and will refer my friends.
I think that those with handmade shoes will see the value in this institution and will be very happy with the results, even though cash only kinda creates a pain in the rear.
Go see George!

The owner is very nice and helpful. The shop is conveniently located. The work was done nicely and quickly.
The only downside is that you have to pay in advance, and it’s also cash-​only. There’s an ATM nearby, and also you can get cash back at Morse Market and Dollar General just down the street.

Finally someone who could REALLY fix a pair of shoes. These guys are a lost trade and when you find one, hang on to them.
I went to 4 different shoe repair places (all over priced) to fix my favorite pair of Merrell sandals. It was a really simple fix. And finally I found John, the owner and his little shop on Morse.
He and his father before him started the shop in 1921 and he can tell you stories you couldn’t imagine about the area. Old family photos on the wall can tell you the same stories in pictures.
He also sells used shoes and boots, leather jackets and coats and purses. If you need anything leather fixed. See John and tell him I sent you.
ONE FINAL THING: Bring Cash, he only takes it. And if you don’t have it, there’s an ATM on the other side of the street.

Don’t take anything here. Not if it’s nice and valuable. I took a pair of top quality cowboy books there. I’ve had these boots re soled five or six times in the 15 years I’ve owned them and now they are pretty much ruined thanks to the job he did. I should have just flew them back to Kentucky to have them re soled by someone I can trust. He tried to give me some bullshit excuse as to why he glued a piece of leather over my toe ruining the look of them and ruining the leather underneath and of course in less than an hour the glued piece is already coming off. He dyed the parts of the leather different shade than the rest of the boots so now the leather throughout the boot doesn’t match. The toes are now a chocolate color while the rest of boot is the original tan color they are suppose to be. He dyed the stitching and didn’t bother to watch the dye, there are black streaks on the sides of my brown leather. DONT GO HERE. Repeat. Shitty work. I pointed out that he altered my boots against my wishes and he tried to justify his BS reasons. Never apologized or offered to fix his own mistakes. DO NOT GO HERE UNDER any circumstances. Crappy cobblers like this need to go out of business.

Yeah, not so much. Been in Rogers Park for over 15 yrs and can not say anything positive about this place. They are more interested in selling you used shoes out of the window and over priced accessories than actually listening to what you want, and even more importantly, to the price that they quote you. My last venture in was for some laces for a pair of dress shoes. Brown. Laces. $ 8 for 2 laces. When I said no I was informed that they were rolled and waxed by hand by a very angry short woman. I told her for that price they had better be dipped in platinum and polished by hand. Then to Target I go to get 4 pair of laces, waxed and rolled, for $ 4.99. As I’ve stated in my other reviews, I go WAY above and beyond to visit Mom and Pop shops. I’m even teased by friends and family because of how much I «over-​pay» at times. But sometimes there are reasons why M&P shops don’t make it. Your customers are your lifeblood and they have choices. Fellow Unilocalers, choose elsewhere.

So excited I’ve discovered this place. I’m obsessed with my Frye boots, and I have one pair that I wear almost every day, weather permitting. I wore them into the ground, the heels were a disaster. I took the pair into this place. Very small and loaded with used shoes/​handbags for sale which was cool. The man working there was so sweet, and we talked a bit about how great Fryes were! Told me how he used to repair them almost every day in the 70s. I love going to a local place with history like that. There are pictures on the wall from back in the day when it presumably was first starting out.
Got the boots back 4 days after bringing them in, and it cost $ 35 to put brand new heels on the boots. I was expecting more, so I was pretty excited. Cash only! Luckily there is a Chase bank across the street so I was able to run across to grab the cash, as you pay before you pick them up. He put Vibram heels on it, looked like a really sturdy hard rubber, and he assured me they would last a long time. It looks like he either cleaned up the entire sole of the boot or sprayed it with something so the beat up soles of my boots are now a nice, even black. Put them on as soon as I got home and was amazed! I had forgotten what it was like to stand evenly in those boots!
Will definitely be going back to the Cobblers!

I was a repeat customer here but not anymore. I’ve previously had John fix some shoes and he did a fine job for the price and then he increased his prices to an unreasonable level for the service.
Recently, however, I had a bad experience here. I brought in a beautiful leather bag to have the straps replaced. They charged me $ 50, which was a lot but I loved this bag. They promised to call me when it was ready because he couldn’t tell me when it would be done as he said he had to order in leather. 2 weeks go by and no call. I go in to pick up the bag and he gave me a really hard time that I no longer had the receipt. When I explained that I lost it in the 2 weeks it took for them not to call me, he got angry.
Anyway, I get my bag home. Instead of sewing in the straps, he bolted them to the bag. Ok, whatever. But, the «leather» he used quickly gave away and starting to break. I’ve only had it back for about 2 weeks and the straps are basically ruined again.
I was disappointed in the customer service and quality of work and I now think this place is a ripoff. I won’t be back.

With shoes so cheap these days, there aren’t many shoe repair places around anymore. Although you’d think they only repair shoes with real leather soles, this place can repair almost any kind of shoe. But I have never come to them for service on shoes, so read the other reviews for that.
This shop is my go-​to place for leather apparel repair and renovation, which they excel in. Their fees aren’t cheap, but they are reasonable (figure at least $ 25 to start). Also be prepared for these store rules on payment: 1) You must pay for your order in advance, and 2) Since they don’t take credit cards, it’s a cash-​only transaction (I’ve never tried to present a check). The work on one garment usually takes a week to complete.
The shop is a maze from front entrance to the service counter (maybe it’s to slow down potential thieves?). I’ve only dealt with the senior Mr. John Peter Geroulis. But I never know who actually does the work on my garment. You will be very pleased to get your leather garment back almost better than when it was new.

This is a great neighborhood shoe repair shop. The owner is very friendly and was able to give me great arch support inserts for work shoes at a reasonable price. I’ve also had heels recapped there, and they did a wonderful job. I would definitely recommend this place for Roger’s Park residents, or anyone in great Chicago.

The couple that owns this place are incredibly nice. They have saved a few pairs of shoes for me, and done great job. I had to take off the last star because the price seems a bit high ($ 25 to have a pair of heels recapped) and because I have had to wait a few days to pick up shoes because of the hours. On occassion they have been able to get shoes back to me within a few hours, when that happens five stars!!!

I really like this place the only thing I dont like is that it closes @ 6pm. I live right off the red line so I usually get to the shop literally at 557pm. They are really efficient workers and the price is real right. Aaannnndd they’re walking distance from my home.

So far, so fantastic!
I loathe shoe shopping. I have odd-​shaped, wide feet with crazy high arches, and finding anything that isn’t blindingly painful takes a full day of resilience. I live a block from this place, and have wandered by many times. Eventually, I took in my bag of way-​too-​worn shoes (click click goes the metal peg in my heel…).
The owners went through them pair by pair, told me what needed fixing, and how much it would cost. Because they are cash only, I only left two pairs there that day.
They were finished on time and when I went to pick them up I was quite pleased. Heels that look like heals again, no scrapes and stragglies, no holes! Granted, they were simple colors (black, off-​white), but they did ask me point blank what color I thought the off-​white ones were to make sure they came back as I expected.
I’ve dropped off another couple pairs, and can’t wait to start getting some use out of already broken-​in shoes!
(Repairs can be a little pricier than you’d like, but it’s still cheaper than new ones! Fix the ones you like the fit and feel of, toss the ones you don’t.)

He has been fixing my boots and setting me up with the proper inserts for years. I just called them to find out that they are now a block west. I was worried that I was going to have to find a new Shoe Repair.
My only beef with them is that they are cash only.

A wonderful neighborhood place. I had a purse strap fixed and the husband and wife even touched up some places on the leather that needed color correction. So nice, friendly, and a neighborhood gem.

A good shoe repair shop is hard to find, I thought. How surprising to discover a great one, in my neighborhood since the 1920s! Cobbler’s Rogers Park Shoe Repair is run by the Geroulis family. Mr. Geroulis did a beautiful job cleaning and fixing the heels on my favorite pair of boots (at a very reasonable price) and he and his wife greeted me warmly, by name, after only the first time I visited. You can also find some great vintage shoes and boots for sale there. Take time to look at the photo tribute to Mr. Geroulis’ father, including some wonderful street scenes from mid 20^th century Rogers Park, and ask Mrs. Geroulis to show you a pair of the high button shoes her father-​in-​law made by hand in days long ago!