Cowboy Boot Hospital

I have been going here for years and they do awesome work but this time I was so disappointed. I feel like I lost one of my favorite trading NY cards.
I dropped off my boots Tuesday and paid. They only take cash, $ 65, ok, no problem, I scrounged and had just enough!
Came back to pick them up today and the cobbler forgot to write down that I had paid on my ticket. They don’t keep ANY other records, just the ticket…
I ended up arguing with him for 10 minutes, I refused to pay for his mistake and he let me go but I still feel so upset and unsettled. What a shitty situation, keep better records!
I don’t want this review to stop people from using them. Their work has always been great but if you pay in advance, please, please, please check your card and make sure he marks it. Unfortunately, I won’t be going back…

Excellent and fast polish, conveniently located

Don’t go here to get your No. 6 clogs re-​soled! I got mine done less than 2 months ago and it’s already worn down and I have to get them done again somewhere else. And I spent $ 60! They did a fine job but the quality of the sole is very poor and it was a waste of my money.

This place is my go to cobbler in the city. I take all my designer shoes to them to get rubber soles added. All my repairs too. The best place in town. Fantastic work and super nice people. Thank you!!!

The chief surgeon at the Cowboy Boot hospital is a brilliant, brilliant man. Twice a year I bring him basically ALL my shoes in a various states of disrepair (some way, way far gone) and they always come back looking like new.
I bring in a lot of vintage shoes that were handed down to me from my mother and grandmother and he takes excellent care of them. He’s also done a great job repairing heels, loafers and my husband’s boots. I’ve stopped replacing the shoes I like and just bring them here to be resoled every 6 months. He’s a little more expensive than some other places, but I’ve saved tons of money by not having to buy new shoes every season.
He’s saved me so many times, I’m at the point where I should be sending him Christmas cards.

quick, easy, friendly, and great work!!! Will return here vs. overpriced leather spa, and due to much better service!

Just returned from having my 5^th pair of boots repaired here. He does a great job… every single time. Fast service. Fair prices. Nice guy. Highly recommended.

After consulting the reviews, I stopped by to give this place a shot– one of my biggest regrets. I was underwhelmed by the staff friendliness and the quality of work. Save yourself the disappointment and go elsewhere.

All I needed were my rubber soles glued b/​c they were coming off of my suede flat boots. He glued them for $ 30…$ 30!!! But I had to leave town the next day so I said ok. I picked up the boots the next day and the suede had glue all over them, as if a 6yr old child did it. But I couldnt have him clean it up b/​c I had to leave town for Arizona that day. My second day in Arizona, they became unglued. When I got back and asked him to fix it, he blamed it on me using them in the rain. What an idiot. If you have time, go to Cesar’s, it’s worth the trip.

I’m I shoe collector… this guy as saved hundreds of shoes for me… from designer, classic to vintage. Love this place. Has resurrected, revamped, repaired and prepared my shoes. I’ve been going here as long as he’s been open. A real jewel. I trust this place with the most valuable shoes I have.
Just a hint… take your shoes in advance of wearing and get soles or taps put on… you’ll add lots of life.

lower star rating if it was possible.
The guy is a CROOK… customers beware.
I’m not a fan of writing reviews– but when one has a terrible experience then one tend to have an urge to tell the truth. These reviews are all old– which says a lot about this place.
I’ve been going to this place when they were on Prince street about 7 years old and it was called Cowboy shoe repair. He did the repairs for a shoe store I managed and was known to do all the higher end shoes in Soho. So for 7 years I went to this guy who still doesn’t remember me when I come in.
The last time he did taps on my shoes his prices were a lot higher and the quality was poor. But I gave him another chance to redeem. What a waste of time. I came in to have him fix a special edition GUCCI snake skin purse. I lost the leather pulls and I want to have something added that’s close to the color of the leather. Or even take the leather from the strap —— BUT HE figured out this would take him too much time. He wanted to charge me 10 for each pull, if he used a tan leather that’s cheaper and he had scraps of — if wanted a rivet it would cost $ 15 each. OK THIS IS GUCCI so of course money was no problem, right? BUT COME ON he cut the leather uneven and glued them together with the glue come off the unevenly cut leather with blue pen markings on it– then added the rivets not even in the middle. This would’ve taken me less than 5 mins to do and he wanted to charge me $ 30 for 2 PULLS!!! Again if it was done nicely and looked expensive I would’ve paid $ 100 for 2 little leather pulls! BUT HE DIDN’T WANT TO DO ANY WORK AND CHARGE A LOT OF A CRAP JOB THAT A LITTLE BLIND KID CAN DO!
On top of it when I complained and told him I was a loyal customer he started yelling at me telling me that I was cheap and didn’t want to pay him — Why would I pay someone that did a crappy job? BUT I was trying to tell him to do a better job so I can pay him more… and he didn’t get it BC he got so offended that I hated the work that he didn’t hear me when he’s cursing and yelling at me.
If you need good work done walk 10 min to Chinatown and get the guys that don’t have a store they are located throughout CT and they are on the street. These guys are very skilled in the trade although they don’t speak English but they just see what needs to be done and fix it there while you wait, and the best part is they are really cheap! I rather patronize these people that want to work for a living instead of the people that charge you an absorbent fee for a half ass job. That’s my 2 cents worth!

After reading these reviews, I stopped by with some leather equestrian-​style boots that needed the soles fixed. After a consultation with the cobbler, not only did I get the soles re-​glued but they suggested adding a layer of rubber to prevent further wear and tear, especially as we head into winter.
The price was really good (under $ 40) and service quick (just two days). They also cleaned and treated the boots, without my knowledge, which was a nice, thoughtful addition to the service.
As a new New Yorker whose shoes are already sustaining the wear and tear of the city, I’ll be taking a few more pairs of boots and heels here and wiil update this review if any fall short of this first experience.

After walking around town all day with my buddy. He’d been wearing these new dress shoes that he got, but they barely fit he said & they keep slipping. We went in to a few shoe stores & none of these places sold shoe fillers ! Finally I looked on Unilocal,located a place 3 blocks down & bingo…
Its a small simple shop. But they had everything we needed & boy was this place busy when we got there. .. Seemed like everyone was getting off work & were swinging by to pick up their shoes. After the kind gentleman who was running the shop finished up with his customers who were ahead of us. He then took his time to solve my friends problem & alleviating his pain.

In New York City, one finds one has a favorite locksmith, and a favorite shoe repairman. If you pound the pavement as much as I do, the shoe repairman gets a special place in your heart, and probably knows as much about you as your dry cleaner.
Because my feet are strange-​shaped – short, wide, and the left is wider than the right – I need to usually get new shoes stretched before I can walk comfortably in them. This is the only place I can trust to stretch my shoes properly. Naturally, I’ve also taken boots to him, and had conventional repairs – like resoling – done.
Plus, most of my shoes aren’t made of leather anymore, and he’s sensitive to that. Just a gem in the fast-​gentrifying nabe of Nolita.
[I wasn’t aware this place had moved to Broome St., and was very discouraged to find their former storefront empty and closed. So fortunately I called their number when I got home and found they had just moved, not disappeared. So relieved.]

Overnight, Cowboy Boot Hospital resurrected my caramel colored Via Spigas from dead. New heals, new soles… the magician here even seamlessly reattached a little flap that my small toe was beginning to peak through. And cleaned, polished and buffed the leather to look like new. Worth every cent.

I’ve had my cowboy boots resoled here twice, heels and soles. Both times they did a flawless job, even improving on them by adding Vibram rubber.

I am withholding the last star because I’ve only been there once. I’ve been eyeing this place to bring my old worn out western boots to be rehabilitated, but finally went when I asked the ladies at the Sigerson Morrison shop who they reccommend for shoe repairs. I brought in two new pairs to have sole guards put on, and said boots that were scuffed all over, heels and soles totally worn down. I got them back in a few days, the new shoes came back spotless, and I almost cried when I saw my boots. The new soles and heels were seamlessly attached to the old (not totally replaced), and he even cleaned, buffed and conditioned the leather. It’s a bit pricey to rehabilitate boots, but for me it was worth it.

Huh, I had no idea «Cowboy Boot Hospital» was the actual name of this little place tucked on Prince Street just below Bowery. I remembered the «cowboy» part, because it made me a little nervous, since I am sooo not a cowgirl. The «hospital» part is funny — in a sad, bitter way — because these fools left one of my vintage slingbacks in critical condition.
The back straps of the slingbacks had gotten worn out. One had snapped a couple of months ago, and I took it to Jims Shoe Repair on E. 59^th Street. They did a great job of fixing the strap; I don’t know how, but they seamlessly healed the leather.
I didn’t want to go all the way to Midtown to fix the other one, so I thought I’d try someplace closer to home. Enter the malpractice of Cowboy Boot Hospital: When I picked up my poor slingback, a piece of leather had been haphazardly sewn across the worn bits. The pieces didn’t line up, the thread color didn’t match — it was like a wound that had been closed up by a blind surgeon. A blind, one-​handed, 7-​year-​old surgeon who did his residency at Frankenstein Memorial.
Lessons learned from my visit to the travesty that is CBH:
1. If you have multiple pairs of shoes that need fixing and are trying out a new shoe repair place, resist the urge to bring them all in. Test the place out with a simple heel replacement first, lest you unwittingly leave your favorites in the hands of barbarians.
2. Get the prices first, preferably before you show up with your bag of wounded shoes. I think I dropped something obscene like $ 85 for five pairs of shoes, some of which only needed new heels and a shine.
They get one star for actually returning all my shoes to me (and because I can’t figure out how to give them zero stars).