Ideal Shoe Repair

The worst customer service. When I cannot go to The Leather spa I go here. But the shoe guy has gotten rude and the work is shotty. I brought in a suede purse with brass handles. The suede had become unglued from the brass so I brought it in to be re-​glued. It didn’t last, I told him about it and he told me to bring the bag in so he could see it. I am thinking he is going to fix it. He told me he couldn’t fix. He charged me $ 5 to fix it the first time. I will never go back there again. Also on the boots he replaced the heel and didn’t bother to clean the boots. :(

My dad has been a cobbler for years and he normally fixes my shoes but I needed a quick fix for an event. All I needed was a shine and new protective rubber on my boots’ heels. I first went to Eddies in GCS only because they were right there on the ground floor and they tried to charge me $ 35! Plus extra for the shine. Even for midtown, that is a total rip off. I stormed off in a huff and happened upon Ideal downstairs. It looks like the shoe repair shops I am used to and the guy was actually quite nice. He examined the boots and quoted the rate I expected (did I say my Dad’s a cobbler?) and not only did he quote a fair rate, but I didn’t have to pay until AFTER the work was done. Well I picked up the boots and they look great. I don’t know what the work would be like for larger jobs like replacing a whole leather sole on a man’s dress shoe but for simpler jobs, I thought Ideal was… well…ideal.

I go here because it is conveniently located near my office and they do solid work. I don’t know if the guy who runs this business has been sniffing too much shoe glue, but he’s a complete asshole. Whatever skills he may have as a cobbler are completely outshined by his complete disregard for even the simplest social mores. I’ve never written a negative review based solely on the treatment I’ve been given as a customer… until now. He’s that bad.
oh yeah, and the prices aren’t cheap either. Right on par with almost every other NYC cobbler and more expensive than some. Find someone nice in your neighborhood that won’t make you cringe when handing over your money.