Shoes Repair Pro & Lydia’s Tailoring

Dropped off and picked up the wife’s shoes for new rubber heel tips. Service took about a week. The couple that run the place were very polite. They don’t speak a lot of English, but enough, and they understood me just fine.
The shoes were there on the day they told me they would be, and they had new tips and were polished like new. $ 34 for two pairs. Wife was very pleased.

5 stars for the work, –3 stars for what they charge.
I dropped off a piece to have some Velcro added to the inside so I could store some pouches inside. The work is done very well but the price paid was outlandish. I guess I have sucker written on my forehead. Having the stitching done was about half the price of the actual piece. The quality is nice, but they lost a first time customer due to their pricing model.

The Vibram soles on my trusty Sportiva hiking boots were starting to come off. Honestly, I was very close to just buying some Shoe Goo and regluing the peeling part myself, but I thought I’d try to toss a local place some business. So I trusted some of the more complimentary Unilocal reviews as well as the suggestion of my wife to bring my boots here.
What a waste of time.
I dropped them off on a Sunday. Only the lady was there and she couldn’t answer any questions about a) how they’d be fixed or b) about how much it would be. Frankly if it was more than $ 50 I’d be unhappy. She told me in very broken English that it would probably be about $ 20. OK, sold. «Thursday,» she said. Fine.
I go back and the other half of the business is there. He pokes around for a bit and then finds my boots. On the tag is the word «impossible» written in large letters. «Impossible to fix,» he says. What?!? We’re talking about a sole that is starting to peel off the side. How can it be «impossible» to fix? I asked «Is it impossible to fix or impossible for *you* to fix?» The man and woman (same woman from Sunday) start going on about how it’s impossible to fix, period. At least, that’s what I assume they were saying since their English is very broken, which was frustrating for us both.
Plus, if this woman knew how «impossible» it was to fix these boots, why didn’t she say something on Sunday.
To add insult to injury, the boots were actually in WORSE condition than they were when I dropped them off. Plus, the man said they couldn’t even be resoled, which I know is 100% utterly false.
In short, I wasted a bunch of time waiting for this business to do a simple repair. I will NEVER come here for anything, and I will tell everyone I know to avoid this place like the plague. Stay away… far, far away.
EDITED TO ADD: Incidentally, I bought a $ 7 tube of GearAid Freesole, took ten minutes to apply it to my boots, and let it sit under weight for two days. That product fixed my boots.

Never really been happy with the service here. I’ve only stuck with this place so far because of they are so close to my house. The price is always too high. Always been told it was going to take longer than one would reasonably expect. Had improper work done that had to be redone. And tonight I found out that they don’t honor the hours posted on their door. Sign says they are open till 7. I was there before 7 and they had closed up and gone home. If you want to go home before 7, then change the sign to say 6:30. Def will not be back.

They did a good job re-​soling my shoes at a fair price, however the two people that were there during my dropoff and pickup do not speak English. This made the dropoff process very difficult as they could not understand my request, and worse, they were actually getting impatient and frustrated with me for not being able to understand them! I will not be returning.

Had used Lydia’s for years for minor hemming and tailoring. Was always pleased with quality & price, as well as friendly attitude of owners. However, I took my daughter’s wedding dress there to be taken in at the bust (fit perfectly everywhere else). I should have known this wasn’t going to be good when Lydia grabbed the two side of the dress, stuck a safety pin in each side, and said come back in a month. I kept telling myself «we’ve had good service in the past with not alot of pinning, etc». When we picked it up it was way way too tight. We managed to get it zipped up, but clearly it was not right. And now there were odd lumps of seams that weren’t there before. We paid and left, went home to regroup. Granted, I did not go back and try to have them fix it. At that point I was afraid to leave it again, since clearly they were out their league. I just wish Lydia had told me it was beyond her capability. from the start. We would have saved time, money and ALOT of stress.

As we all know — this has been one rough winter! I’ve gotten a lot of use out of all my boots and as a result the heel on my 2 year old Banana Republic, leather black boots was coming off. Darn. Not my favorite shoes, but I figured they were worthy to save.
Why not try a local cobbler? Ye olde cobbler.
Very nice couple that runs the place. I dropped them off, asked to have the heel repaired and shined. I dropped them off on Sunday, was told they’d be ready Saturday. I went to pick them up today (Friday) and they were ready — nice surprise!
The shoes looked ok — nothing earth shattering — the heel was nailed in — but didn’t look like brand new boots or anything.
«That will be $ 59.00.» «WHAT?!»
I was expecting $ 30 max, as that’s what I’ve paid in the past. My advice to anyone who goes, get a price before you commit! For $ 59, I almost would rather buy new shoes.
I’m very disappointed for blowing so much money on a stupid heel repair. I will definitely not be going back. :(

Ask details about how he will repair your shoes.
I was so excited after reading the Unilocal reviews as he’s closer to my home and a sweet sweet man. The soles on my boots at the toes were wearing down & frayed and causing leather to get scrapped. I knew from previous repair places, it runs $ 20. I showed him my books «can you fix and how much» Yes and $ 20. I should have asked how because it is standard that the piece of the sole is cut off & replaced. Instead, he used glue to adhere the loose pieces of sole and polished the dinged leather but there were still holes in the sole. When I saw it, and said I expected to have a new piece of sole as this isn’t going to protect the leather he said «I will give you a warranty» At that point, I took my boots to my previous guy in McLean, paid $ 20 for them to be properly fixed. I was so disappointed.
My advice is to ask specific questions as to how the repairs will be done.

Of course I chose this place based on Unilocal reviews… another awesome find.
It’s a local business, convenient location, and reasonable for this area.
The couple who owns/​operates the business are very nice folks. The window sign hours had 9am as the opening time today when I went to pick up my clothes. it was 8am, they were there, lights on, and working.
My first trip was for 2 pants and 3 skirts to be taken in. I’m petite and apparently oddly shaped. I picked up the clothes today and I’m very pleased. I already dropped off another dress and skirt.
This place is a keeper (and even better, a local small business)

My wife went this afternoon to have some clothing tailored and was treated very rudely by the attending lady. We are never walking into this place again!

This is a mom and pop shop that has become my go-​to for shoe repair and tailoring. As a petite woman, I often need my clothing tailored and Lydia does a fantastic job making pants and dresses fit me well. Her husband works on the shoe side of the business and also does a great job. He often re-​heels my most worn shoes/​boots and they always come out looking like new. They are a cute couple, which makes visiting a pleasure. Don’t look any further.

SAD NEWS — PRICES THROUGH THE ROOF NOW!!! I have used this darling couple for all of our tailoring needs and shoe repairs over the last 5 years. This week I returned to their newly-​moved shop to pick up 1) a pair of heels that had new taps attached & heels polished 2) a leather dog leash that had one seam resewn and 3) a dress with a zipper replacement. THEY HAD THE NERVE TO CHARGE 68 $!!! (Only had 60 $ in cash, so they accepted that. wow, what a discount… lol.)
I can only assume that the landlord has jacked up their rent with the move & is trying to force them out and that is why their prices have sky-​rocketed.
Sadly, I will never be back and they have lost a loyal customer.
(PS — I will add that my 18 yr old daughter ran in to pick up the items & brought back the receipt, perhaps they felt they could rip off a younger customer, in which case it would make their integrity/​business even worse…)

I go to this place for tailoring. As a women, a good tailor is worth their weight in gold. Convenient and local are two good draws.
Though she takes about a week to get things back, it is well worth it for me to be able to pull anything out of my closet and know that it will fit!

Upon reading reviews I gave this place a chance.
I live around the corner and I love to support a local business. I cannot recommend this place to anyone. I’d steer clear if I were you. I took a pair of leather shoes that my dog got hold of and put an ¹⁄₈ of an inch tear on the upper to see if they could be fixed. I also asked for them to be shined up. I inquired if anything could be done or should I just scrap them and chalk it up to bad dog. The gentleman assured me that he could fix them, «no problem!»
The result was comical. He put a hole through the upper of the shoe and tied a knot with what seemed like waxed shoelace. The shoes also looked exactly as I left them, un-​shined. I asked if they were shined and he took them away for about 45 seconds and came back with them looking exactly the same, smiling.
We both know a shine takes longer then that.
I paid for his effort, not wanting to argue and left, never to return.

I agree with the first poster that the store is in a very convenient location at the Clocktower shopping center, so it’s very easy to link my visits to the store while running most of my other shopping errands. In terms of service, the folks who work there are diligent in their work with excellent attention to detail – while you may not be able to get your stuff back as quickly as you’d like (they generally need about a week), the quality of the job makes the wait worthwhile.