Craftsman Shoe Repair

This shop is great. This man is a true craftsman. This is also a local business, I visit local businesses first always. He can tell you if the shoes or boots are worth resoling, he can let you know about the different types of shoe and boot soles. Ive been coming back for 7 years.

The previous reviewers are spot on. Howard is chatty squared. After 45 mins., with me pulling up my GPS for an appointment, he actually said, «Oh, I’m sorry… am I disrupting your texting»? Thank GOD his trainee was there when I picked up. I got out in under 10 minutes.
…
My five repairs were as good as could have been expected, I think, They were pretty difficult repairs. I’d have paid more attention to aesthetics, but, I’m not a cobbler, and the repairs are functional if not attractive.
I will go there again for any more «clunky» work that I need done.

Good place if you need to repair a pair of shoes for a great price. For a shoe repair, it will cost around $ 8. He also fixes belts and even cowboy boots. This place is small and the area IS NOT the best… But Howard is a friendly and honest guy.
My lady wanted one of her shoes repaired the day we dropped it off and Howard did repair it within 3 hours. We just went out to eat and ran errands and when we returned, it was ready!
He charges $ 8 for a pair of shoes to repair.
Cash only… NO CARD…

This guy is HONEST to a T. I went in to obtain an estimate (and repair if it wasn’t too exorbitant) on a pair of Monk strap dress shoes that I absolutely adore since they fit me snugly like a pair of baseball gloves after three seasons.
Let me preface this by saying, yes, this is in the lesser part of town where you may want to be more aware of your surroundings and keep your car locked. However, this guy knows his stuff and his place is a shout out to the past and smells like his business should, full of leathery tannins and some elbow grease.
He is very wordy and was joking around with the person who just got his shoes polished in front of me but he quickly finished up with him and I gave him the shoes and he gave me an honest estimate they were not really prime for fixing (which I already had an inkling about anyways) so I agreed (and his price was fair considering) but he also offered to fix it if I absolutely wanted to. but I took his advice and didn’t get them done.
However, he talked to me about lottery tickets, government stealing our money and then proceeded to scream, literally with spittle coming out of his mouth, about how the government is taking our money through taxes, etc. which was entertaining to say the least and I wasn’t in a rush so I just took it all in and left after the 10 – 15 minutes of his soliloquy.
Just took the one star off because he’ll give you an earful (not horrible at all… if you’re temporally sensitive and need to get someplace, you’ll want to preface your visit with that fact) and he seems nice enough and very economically reasonable for me to come back at a later date!

So a couple of years ago I gave my gal a Coach purse for Christmas. She loved it! Said it was perhaps the nicest purse she’d ever owned and took it everywhere! Fast forward several months: the stitching on the straps began to fray. Talk about a bummer! She sadly put it away in the closet until a few weeks ago when we began discussing our options for repair. As I was the original purchaser, I felt a certain obligation to see the process through. After searching Unilocal reviews I opted for a place just down Stockton Boulevard from my neighborhood. I’m all for keeping my dollars local so I thought I’d give Craftsman a try.
Upon arriving on a Tuesday I was immediately stuck by how disorganized the operation was… Piles of shoes stacked haphazardly on his center work station. Sales racks of polish that looked like they had been collecting dust since Ronnie was in office. And cash only?!? I understand keeping thing simple for a small business owner but get with the times fella!
I offered an apprehensive greeting and placed the purse in the counter. It only took a moment to explain my situation. He promptly offered his suggested method of repair and even a way to improve the stitch to strengthen the weight bearing points. After agreeing to his advice and next-​day pickup (and the price, which was far less than I expected) I readied myself for exodus. Not so fast! He proceeded to jump into a long and convoluted tale of his ex wife, her daughter and the partner of some infidelity (honestly wasn’t paying much attention to details, zoned out). Only the fortune of another customer entering the shop allowed for my escape.
Fast forward to the next day: I returned to the shop with exact change and hope for a quick in and out. It took him five minutes of sifting through the teetering mountain of shoes to help the customer in front of me. When I approached the counter, it was another few moments of hide-​and-​go-​seek until he located my item, only to inform me that it wasn’t ready. «It’ll only take four and-​a-​half minutes to finish her up, so long as there ain’t other customer!», he drawled. I had some time so I reluctantly assented. That was almost 20 minutes ago, as a stream of other consumers with cobbling needs rotated in and out of the shop. (I’m currently out in my Jeep writing this review.)
Without seeing the final product I can confidently say I will not offer my need of service or dollars at this establishment again. If anyone had more need for an overnight visit from magical cobbling elves (or the show Hoarders) it’s the proprietor of Craftsman Shoe Repair.

Love this lil hole in the wall. My shoe repairs were done the next day as promised. Prices are reasonable and owner is nice and honest. I had a pair of boots he couldn’t repair and he told me upfront which I appreciated. My heels came out perfect and looking brand new. Truly a craftsman.

I’ve only loved a few pairs of shoes enough to ever have them repaired, but each time I do, I appreciate that a «craftsman» is handling them instead of an unseen machine or poorly trained and uninterested employee of a corporate chain. I can’t help but feel that this is an underappreciated and dying art.
The good:
Based on my consultation here, I would recommend Craftsman to anyone with a broken shoe or handle. The guy I talked to was highly skilled and honest. He looked at my boots, discussed my options, and kindly suggested that I was better off not repairing them because the damage was too much. No pressure, no fuss, just the truth from an expert who looked at shoes everyday. If everyone operated that way, the world would be a happier place and my car bills would probably be a lot less.
The bonus:
He even gave me free advice to how to prevent the heel damage from happening again!
The verdict:
So unfortunately I couldn’t give him any business and didn’t get last fall’s boots fixed, but on the bright side of things, I have lovely new boots this year… and I know where to go next time if the heels need to be fixed.

I must say I am very, VERY impressed and pleased to have had his repair done to one of my Louis Vuitton bag. The handle to my bag was ripping apart from the leather and literally was horrible looking. He was the first person I had decided to call just because I had a good feeling. Reviews, mehh I go for my own experience more than anything. So I brought my bag here thinking «I think the LV bag is a done deal. UNTIL, after 10 minutes he made a suggestion. I trusted his word and said do whatever you feel is right or necessary. I asked how much he would charge and he says «$ 6.50, whatever I write on the tab is how much you pay I don’t expect any more or less» He also said it would be done the next day! How often do you find places that would do that for you?! I highly recommend, to me he is literally the doctor of all repairs and makes you feel great about leaving your belongings behind to have it repaired. Very nice, sweet guy. You will NOT regret it. He will have you leaving with suggestions of what to do if he cannot fix it.

My mom’s been coming here forever but it’s out of the way from my job and home. I had a pair of expensive boots I needed re-​heeled and polished, as well as a pair of work heels I loved but figured were beyond repair. I had her take them over and I was beyond amazed at how good they look. Both look brand new! And it only cost $ 16! I definitely recommend you give it a shot.
This is pretty much a dieing trade, which is sad when you consider the craftsmanship of the work. It’s definitely a throwback to generations past when people really took care of their items with more TLC rather than cheaply replacing them. Anyways, I digress… if you have old shoes that need a facelift bring them here!

As I was cleaning out my closet a few months ago, I came across an old favorite of mine — a pair of black penny loafers.
With the sole’s worn out, I did a search and found Craftsmen. I took my shoe’s in for a new leather soles and heels and Howard set me up. After about three days I returned and I found my loafers looking spiffy with new leather soles and heels.
For only $ 40, it sure beat the hell out of buying a new pair at over $ 100. Howard also sewed my topsiders together for only $ 5 — what deal.
The shoes have stood up over the last several months so it was a good quality job. I’ll be back once again when these leather soles wear out.

This place gets five stars IMO. I’ve taken luggage and shoes to be repaired and am always very happy with the results. His prices are reasonable too. Highly recommend!

I took in two shoes, a boot and running shoe, that needed gluing repairs. The repairs are well done! But I was disappointed that the request and extra charge to have the boots shined and polished doesn’t appear to be done. And the owner, while nice and skilled, was a bit distracted and was chatty, and I had an appointment to get to so did not take the extra time it would have taken to bring up the unfulfilled request. But it should have already been completed before I arrived since I came a day later than the scheduled ready date. Minus one star for that oversight IMO. That will not keep me from giving him another chance, but I will know to allow extra time for his storytelling!

Five stars, even though I didn’t get my shoes fixed here.
The owner was very insightful and honest with his advice.
He examined the comprehensive damage on my boots, even though my only request was to fix the broken zippers. He looked at the scruffed tips and told me to consider how I walk. He looked at the soles and told me to be careful and to watch for back pain. Then, he gave an estimate for fixing the zippers. He told me to consider the value of the boots, and to figure out if it would be better to invest in a new pair.
I took his advice. The boots costed me $ 30 and the repairs would have paid for a new pair.
I was very surprised with his honesty. He was very helpful. The man definitely is a master of his craft.
The store is tucked into the corner of the Asian shopping center. It’s small, but it’s absolutely amazing. The sheer and utter honesty exceeded my expectations.
I recommend this place for anyone considering shoe repairs. I will be back~ :]

I took my boots in for repair since the heels were not the same level as each other (normally I’d throw them away and buy a new pair) after hearing about Craftsman Shoe Repair on Stockton Blvd. Howard was really nice and explained what the different ways of repairing them were. His shop is a little hole in the wall place in the same shopping center as Goldstar Supermarket. He was pretty busy (good indication that he knows what he’s doing because other customers were in there to repair everything from shoes to handbags to belts) that day but I didn’t mind the wait. I dropped off my boots and he had them repaired and done within a day for under $ 10. Definitely beats having to buy a new pair of boots.

Howard is a sweet man that has been a shoe repairman for over 30+ years! His shop is tucked away in South Sacramento on Stockton Blvd near Fruitridge Rd. He does an excellent job on repairing shoes and I highly recommend him. You can tell he enjoys his job. I would rather go to him then any shoe repair place downtown for 3 AWESOME reasons:
1) Great work.
2) Affordable.
3) Open on Saturdays 9am-​5pm!
(And not to mention, no language barrier)
There aren’t many places that are open a full day on Saturdays which is GREAT! One thing though, he keeps his prices low by accepting cash and check only. Sorry, but no credit cards accepted.