Austin Shoe Hospital

This place and the manager Todd are great! Went in with a «shoe emergency». The heel caps on a pair of heels I was wearing to a wedding in two days were ruined. Todd said they could fix them and put a protector on the soles (they were wearing out) in less than 24 hours! I also was apparently the 4^th «shoe emergency» of the day but Todd was all smiles and very pleasant to work with. When I went to pick the shoes up the next day, they looked better than I could have expected! They were buffed, looked like new, and they even patched up the heel that had been scraped off at no extra charge! I will continue to use them in the future.

Don’t believe the bad reviews! I took my shoes here and the service was excellent. They were able to do a rush job for me in time for a friends wedding with no issues. The pricing was fair and they even did more than they said they would at no extra charge because they wanted it to be done right! Will use again!

I took my favorite Western boots in to have a new rubber piece on the heel. These boots are two toned, with the lower part being a very light brown, and the shafts are black. When I got them back, they had colored the heels dark brown, and managed to get the dark brown onto the light brown uppers. I pointed out the messy work and they sent them back to be fixed. Ten days later when I picked them up, they were still messy looking with dark brown patches on the light brown leather. The manager worked on them for a while, then asked me to bring them back when I could leave them for a couple of days so he could work on them. AND THEY STILL CHARGED ME!!!
If you have footwear you love, avoid this place like the plague!

[Yelp 365 in 2014 Challenge — 360:365]
No, just no thank you! Before moving to Austin, I used the same shoe cobbler in a smallish University Texas town for about 7 years and always had GREAT service and paid very fair prices… so I think I kind of know what to expect.
Over the past year I’ve taken about 6 different pairs of shoes/​boots in for fairly simple repairs (e.g., sole replacement, buckle repair, etc.) and EACH time the manager at this Bee Caves location, Johnny MacNamara, didn’t seem to know his «ars from a hole in the ground» despite the fact he unrelentingly states over and over again that he has over 20 years experience. I have made a few suggestions, as I did with my previous cobbler who gladly obliged if it was doable, but Mr. Mac seems to only want to argue with everything. «It can’t be done.» Me thinking but not saying, «I’ve had it done before for like 7 bucks… hmmm.» HORRIBLE customer service!
Then, when I found out they do not even complete repairs at this location, I was even more dumbstruck! 20 years experience in what?! Is Mr. Mac even a cobbler? And the prices that were quoted to me were borderline absurd. I thought…“okay, maybe it’s the area or something”…but no. After reading the other reviews I am SO GLAD I always changed my mind and decided to leave with my shoes/​boots in hand. YIKES! I am yet to find someone who will give the love and attention to my footwear in the Austin area that I do! You all know about women and their shoes, right? ;)
p. s. I did purchase a recommended leather cleaning product from this location. Glad I performed a small test spot on the bottom, because it slightly removed the tan leather dye from a pretty expensive handbag. Boo!

I had good luck using this Austin Shoe Hospital location in the past, but my current experience has been far less than stellar. There seem to be new employees who can’t answer any of my questions. I took in a pair of boots to get polished and a suede purse to be reconditioned. They told me the jobs would be done in one week. I went back a week later and the boots had only been polished on the bottom (not on the shafts) and when I asked about it I was told «oh, that costs extra.» So apparently they’ll only polish the bottoms unless you specify you want everything polished. Then, they couldn’t find my purse. I was told they would call the factory and then call me to let me know the situation. No call ever came. I went back to the location four days later and still no purse. The employe that was on duty this day told me he’d put a call into the factory. I am highly skeptical. Bottom line? Service and quality seems to have gone way down. I would recommend finding some place else to take your shoe and purse repairs.

MY SHOES ARE LOST AND NO ONE CAN GIVE ME AN ANSWER!!! I dropped off a pair of one of a kind color boots from Neiman Marcus to be stitched in a couple of areas. I picked them up and when I returned home — (also paid for them). I noticed that the one boot was not even touched and the other boot’s workmanship was very poor. I returned to the store to have them fix. I was promised at this location that they would be returned 3 days later. It is now 10 days. I am told that the factory does not answer their phone or return calls. I was also informed that the CEO was emailed. I phone everyday and no answer. THIS IS PATHETIC AND THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE. I want my boots!

They have always been honest and helpful. The work on my shoes has been better than I’ve seen from Alan Edmonds, so I’ve stopped sending them and I now use this place.
Added a eyehole to a tablet and did it perfectly.

Zero stars. Not even 1.
If you love your item, do NOT take it to the Lakeway Shoe Hospital.
I took my handbag to be dyed because there was a pen stain on it.
It took three months to get this item back. We received it about 1.5 months in, but were unhappy with the results, so they kept it to «try» and improve it.
The final result?
The zipper was stained with dye, the dye is rubbing off onto my hands and clothing, and the logo has dye over it as well. It’s absolutely the worst dye job I’ve ever seen in my life.
Every time we called to inquire if the purse was done, the owner didn’t know, etc.
The amount of time this took and the quality of workmanship is beyond poor. My purse is totally ruined. I should have just kept the pen stain on it.
I told the manager how disappointed I was, and he told me that no refund would be provided.
I wouldn’t bring ANYTHING to this place ever again, and I suggest you take your item somewhere else.

First experience was adding a 1.5″ lift to the right shoe. The manager, Johnny McNamara, told me it might take 10 days. After 2 weeks I called, and he said they weren’t back but he didn’t want to «bother» the worker yet. After 15 days he agreed to inquire about the status, and after 4 weeks I got the shoes back. I should have learned… Next time, I took in some tennis shoes and the lift was to cost $ 130, about 30% more than I have ever paid. I got them back, and they had made the lift black although the shoe was white. It looked ridiculous. They had not even taken the old sole off, they just glued the lift to the old sole. When I told them I was very unhappy and would be embarrassed to wear them, Johnny argued that I hadn’t specified color. Finally, he said they would redo it for another $ 65. I have never posted a negative review before, but this was the worst customer service, the worst judgement call, and the worst workmanship. I am simply disgusted with this business.

Took a baseball mitt in for a leather tie to be replaced and for one of the loose leather ties to be tightened up. I’m thinking $ 25 tops. The quote i received was $ 65. I went over to Ceasar’s Tailor by Lowe’s in the Galleria Shops and they tightened the loose tie for free. Yes, that is what i said,…FREE!!! She didn’t have any leather ties on hand or they would have done that for free also! I tipped the gal and headed over to Dick’s Sporting goods and purchased a leather tie kit for $ 4.99 and it took me 20 minutes to fix the mit myself. Best 5 bucks I ever spent. I guess when you are the only shoe repair in town you can charge people ridiculous prices.

The manager Johnny McNamara is a complete idiot and his shoe repairs are worse. I took a brand new pair of suede boots with a slighty torn finger loop in to be sewn, when I got the boots back the loop was TWICE as big, it looked comical. When I told him I was unhappy with the repair, he got very defensive, argued with me and told me they looked great. All of this in front of my five year old daughter, class act John. Luckily the Neiman’s people laughed when I showed them and mercifully exchanged them for me. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place and especially Johnny boy.