Cobblers Shoes

I brought a pair of boots in to be resoled and have the zipper repaired. The work is good, but they made a judgment call on color that I’m not that happy with. The originals had black soles with tan leather trim. The new heels and soles are a chocolate brown. I wished I’d known that they couldn’t make it two-​tone, because I would have chosen black instead of brown. For $ 85 I wish I felt more pleased with the results. I might still go back, because I liked them, but would definitely ask more questions and get clear about what to expect.

For Christmas I wanted to thank some of the Oakland merchants who make life easier in the Bay Area, where price sometimes far outweighs service. What I love about Cobblers Shoes is their skill at saving my favorite, most comfortable, pretty shoes and boots when they seem to be on their death bed (the shoes, not Cobblers). I don’t come here for little things, just the big things — recently, they completely renovated an old pair of boots, putting on new soles and heels and fixing ripped stitching. Granted, this cost a cool $ 65 — but where was I going to get NEW boots I loved for that? Thanks Cobblers!

I had a pair of boots and the right toe area was pinching my foot. I told her what was going on and then dropped them off. I just picked them up and I’m so happy! They were able to stretch the boot enough so that both boots were roomy and felt the same! Thanks!

Great work for a great price. Had the heel replaced on two pairs of shoes and they threw in a complimentary shine. Shoes are looking like new.

Super fast, super friendly. I came in to get extra holes put in a belt that was too big. It took them 10 seconds, literally! And they didn’t charge me a dime! I will definitely go back (as a paying customer) for all of my cobbler needs!

I’ve gone to Cobblers a couple times to repair dress shoes. Those times fellas when you try to use your other foot to kick off your shoes, I’ve sometimes broken the sole off from the leather. They don’t just glue it back on, the guy removes the whole piece so he can re-​set it properly. They have helped me salvage pairs at a fair price compared with having to buy new pairs.
I also appreciate that 1. They are open on Saturday (not all businesses and downtown Oakland are) 2. They have a decent turnaround time and 3. They text me when the order is done.

Here from LA on a business trip… My shoes needed to be revived! Could have not found a better place.

Rarely do I ever write a bad review of my thoughts even if the business was a bad experience. I would feel bad if anyone went to this business, and experienced what I did.
I took my pair of Christian Louboutin’s patent leather heels ($ 700) to this place. I asked if they could replace the heel tips with the extra pair that came with the shoes. The associate told me she would not use the ones I brought because they use their own. I had no problem with tips differing as long as the finished product looked the same.
Finished product: shoe tips were horrible. Completely damaged tips. Bent inner frame of the heel to fit the rubber, which was twice the size of the original tip. They painted black over an inch of the inner red heel to cover up the damage. They also scratched part of the heel. When I asked her about the scratch she stated that it was already there. I could not believe my ears. My heels look like the bottom of Minnie Mouse’s heel. When I shared my concerns with her she told me to never bring the shoe back or any other shoe. I can not believe how rude she was. She told me the size of the tip she installed was better then what I had. Better? I did not ask for better. I simply asked for the tip to be replaced as it originally looked.
If they could not return the shoe as it was, then they should of stated that before taking the job.
My shoes look like a fake pair of Louboutins. Ruined and unwearable. I really questioned all of their Unilocal reviews. Do people get paid to write reviews? Unbelievable.
My opinion: never take a pair of shoes over $ 50 to this business.

I went to court about my Prada’s shoes last week, and they lied under oath… this weekend I got a ltr from the courts stating that they owe me Nothing for fucking up my brand new shoes!!!
I have been going to the shoe cobbler for about a year haven’t had a problem until now. They hooked up my first new pair of Prada’s I brought to them for some sole protectors then I gave him my brand new Christian Louboutins they hook them up with some great sole protectors then I got another pair new Pradas $ 900 shoes and they ruined them yes ruin them. Never worn before and they crease the tip of my $ 900 shoes. The man on the phone I called first when I realized what happened and he said that he did not see any dent or creases in my shoe so I say I’ll be right back over there when I get off work and then he changed his story to the crease was already on my shoes and he told his wife about it No I don’t think so. Brand new Prada never worn before just try it on and there’s no way in hell that tip cook kris like that.

I brought in my super old funky cowboy boots that I can’t seem to let go of for repair. My cat had peed on them, I thought it would be impossible to get the strong smell out but they did an excellent job PLUS re-​soled my boots, shined them AND put on a heel piece where the heel was worn down. They did an amazing job and didn’t even charge me for all of the work that was done!

Needed new heels for my boots. They got cobbled here in a few days. I didn’t have enough cash when I dropped them off, so she let me pay the balance when I picked them up. I arrived to get them on a weekday, and they didn’t actually open until about 30 minutes later. It’s okay but if I was in a hurry, it would’ve been an inconvenience. But the folks are very nice, and you can usually find a place to park the car to run in for a quick second.

This review breaks my heart because this place is one of those small mom & pops joints that you want so badly to love… and by you, I mean me. But alas! They botched my beloved saddleback shoes and then charged me for it. If you can’t clean them, just say so. That’s all.
1) I brought in a pair of cream colored and gray canvas saddleback shoes — very unique. Now they are off white/​gray with a brown spot in the middle of the left shoe that wasn’t visible before.
2) They must have scrubbed real hard because they’re visibly scuffed where before they were not.
3) My beloved shoes came with pink & gray laces, tied in an intricate pattern. They unlaced them & didn’t thread them back up.
4) I think, Whatever. I say, «How much do I owe you?» She says, «Twenty.»
Jesus. I could have bought like 4 tacos and a soda and cleaned the shoes myself. I’m giving two stars because, to be fair, they had a nice selection of reasonably priced & unique products. And the cobbler was nice enough.

High marks for the quality of work, speed and professionalism. However, my experience was less than ideal.
I took my Clarks Desert Boots to get resoled ($ 85). Instead of resoling with the traditional crêpe sole, they offered to put on a Vibram sole, which sounded great. I picked them about a week later. The quality was great. However, they polished the shoes with brown polish, without asking, and which I wouldn’t have normally asked for because you just need to oil the shoes. Worse, though, was that my feet didn’t fit in the shoes anymore.
Fortunately, they took the shoes back and put them on the stretcher. But the shoes haven’t felt the same. So a word of caution about resoling your Clarks Desert Boots. Anything other than the crêpe sole may not feel exactly right.
Nonetheless, I’d go back to these folks in a heartbeat with other shoe issues.

I finally found a place that can repair the ends of my heels!!! The gentleman there did a fantastic job: D what’s even better besides the cheap rate was that it was done in 10 – 15 mins. I’m definitely bringing all my heels here to get them repaired!!!
Btw the ends of my heels were run down to the metal part and I thought it would be impossible to get them repaired. I was proven wrong when I went to go pick them up. They looked clean and new: D
I’m a happy customer :)

The «Cobbler» well the two of them are as good as it gets!
I travel from San Francisco just to take all my shoes and bags to them. The customer service is on point. The pricing is fair. and the Work and Quailty is completely correct. I have searched the bay area far and wide and this place if my favorite!
As a professional organizer, I recommend this place to all my clients and to all my friends. I say YES! to the Mr. & Mrs. that run the joint! Thanks for all your amazing work.

I hate getting shoes re-​soled and heeled, but Cobblers Shoes adds enough joy to lessen the pain. The work is first-​rate.
In fact, their latest job was better than first-​rate. My shoes started out with some shiny metallic ornamentation that I had painted over. Over time, the paint began to chip. Cobblers Shoes redid the paint job without my asking and without extra charge.
Better than new!

It’s never a good thing in my opinion to rate something the highest. Nothing’s perfect blah blah, but f that man.
I’d gone to Cobblers Shoes once prior to my last visit. It was a fairly routine visit to inquire about having «Taps?» added to the heels on my Steve Madden boots to protect them since I get a weird wear pattern on my heels eventually due to having a terrible body. Anyways, I asked about the taps and they told me 4 bucks total I believe (I’ll update this when I confirm.) and they did it in about 5 minutes. So cool, my heels are protected and I get a dope clickity clack when walking around at work.
Fast forward to more recently. I’d purchased a pair of dress boots from DSW (I’ll update with the brand.) and they were okay just not as black as they could be and they also had a brown stitching that I wasn’t really fond of. Also one of the straps broke off when I was trying to adjust them on like my first day wearing them.
I had a pretty important engagement coming up (Hi Joelle) and I needed these bad boys in tip top condition so I swung by Cobblers again on I want to say a Weds. I asked them to polish the boots to get them a better tone of black, add taps (I hope this is the right word haha) and I also asked about fixing the strap. They said they could do it all. While examining the boots, the nice lady noticed that the soles of both of them were tearing away from the boot. I’d only had the boots about a month so this was shocking. I asked her how much to fix them. She was sweet and advised me to take the boots back to DSW and see if they could exchange them. That’s when I decided I would be a lifetime customer of these fine folks. Instead of looking for an opportunity to charge me more, she was willing to pretty much not get anything from this situation.
I decided to just have them repair them for me at a cost of I believe $ 46 to redo the soles, polish em black, dye the stitching, fixed the strap and add the taps. She told me they would be ready by Tuesday. I needed them by Sunday, she had them ready by Saturday. The boots look and feel fantastic now and I couldn’t be happier.
If you own shoes then go here.

Here’s a story about a pair of sexy heels I bought from Nordstrom Rack and only had the chance to wear the once until now ;)
Got these adorable open toe 3 inch heels and wore them to a party in June, didn’t even stop to think we would be outdoors and the deck had just enough space between each piece for the thin heel to slide down and get somewhat stuck in.
At one point I almost had to remove the shoe to pull the heel out. So at the end of the evening the backs of the heels were completely scuffed up and could not be worn again. Thankfully I found Cobbler Shoe Repair and Alba was so understanding and helpful.
This place gets 5-​Stars and a huge thumbs up for being super friendly, extremely affordable, very speedy turn-​around time, and for fixing my heels so that I can wear them again… just not on a deck or anywhere the heel can get stuck!
Thank you so much :)

I have nothing but good things to say about Cobblers. Although I’ve only had 2 pairs of shoes service done here, they have truly blown any and every expectation I had.
First, I brought in a simple pair of black pumps which simply needed the taps replaced. I used these heels every day at work, so they were pretty worn otherwise too. To change the taps they charged 10 $, which is pretty standard. But when I received the shoes only moments later, they not only replaced the taps, but polished, evened the color, and patched some of the heel nicks. I wish I had taken before/​after photos.
After this exceptional service, I decided to truly test their expertise. Spoiler alert: THEY WERE AMAZING. Background: I have this pair of really cute, but really cheap leather booties. I’ve had them for about 3 years now, and never bothered to tend to them. A couple of months ago, I reluctantly deemed them unwearable: taps were so worn, i wore into the actual heel; the soles were worn through you could feel the ground beneath; the insert was literally crumbling; the plastic faux wood covering on the heel was chipped away; etc etc. In short, they were in shambles. But I loved them anyways and brought them to Cobblers. 40 $ and 24 hours later (where I received a TEXT that they were ready) I had a practically new pair of booties. See before and after pictures, because I can’t begin explain the excellent work.
For all your leather and shoe needs, bring them to Cobblers! They are as good as it gets.

Incredible shoe restoration work! To say shoe repair would be an understatement. A few weeks ago I brought in a pair of expensive but worn lizard shoes made in the 1980s. Alba at Cobblers recommended a sole guard and new heels. Also she said they could build up the sole area near the toe that had excessive wear. I took her advice and waited a week for completion as promised.
The shoes exceeded my expectations and they looked new. Moreover the price was quite reasonable and less than I’d pay in San Francisco.