Cobblers Bench

wow. always interesting to read reviews. he is not inexpensive. but apparently the market can stand it. he has always done a 5 star repair of all of my shoes and my experience with him is that he always tells me when a thing cannot be done.
i have just picked up a pair of DSW booties that are my faves (just a fact, i have brought him everything from prada to dsw and everything in between). i had not brought them in when i should have because i wasn’t willing to give them up for a week for fear i might have to wear them. he looked at them and said that he didn’t think they could be repaired because the sole was too far gone. i must have looked heartbroken because he said «i could try, but if it doesn’t work they will be ruined and i won’t charge you». i figured it was worth the risk-​where them one or two more times and then have to throw them out, or spent as much as i’d paid for the shoes (or close, i think it cost like $ 60 for sole and heels) i picked them up yesterday, they are perfect and i am so happy! do i wish it had been cheaper? yes. but do i have my most insanely comfortable 8″ platform booties that look like a designer, whose name i cannot remember, back? yes i do!
i have to say that i am fascinated by the one star reviews. is this a sociological thing? does he have a low tolerance as a skilled tradesperson when people treat him a certain way? i could imagine that happening in this neighborhood of privilege, although the scenarios described are startling. what is going on here? i will continue to bring my shoes here as i have for over 10 years, because my experience is that he is 5 star.

I love Cobblers Bench.
He always does amazing work replacing/​repairing the heels of my shoes as well as for my wife’s.
Recently I scuffed the top of a boot and he was kind enough to fix it on the spot.
Have and will always trust him with my shoes!

I have to admit I was reluctant to go to Cobblers Bench based on some of the negative reviews I read. Thankfully, I decided to go anyway due primarily to the convenient location and I am SO GLAD I DID! While Zavo is definitely not a guy who is going to try to suck up to you in any way, he is an outstanding cobbler producing excellent work at very fair prices. I brought a pair of my daughters boots in yesterday and asked if I could pay extra for a fast turn around as my daughter is heading back to school on Friday. Zavo said he could only commit to a one week turnaround due to the workload on his bench. (I could see the shop was full of shoes needing repair.) I said something like «oh well, I hoped for earlier but I guess a week will do.» First thing this morning, I got a call from Zavo saying he worked on the boots last night and they were ready! This way exceeded my expectations plus the boots, my daughters favorites and necessary for the still cold Northeast winter, look almost like new now. To top it off, the business is cash and I was short of cash when I picked the boots up. Zavo said not to worry, that I could just stick the money in the mail slot if I came when he wasn’t there. Really wonderful experience and a good lesson for me to try to see beyond first impressions or beyond negative reviews.

Pretty clear that people either love or hate this place. I found the owner to be very friendly and easy to deal with. And the work on my Atelier Voisin shoes (get them down the street as Pascaline Paris) was excellent.

Zavo is a very skilled and knowledgable cobbler. I trust his assessment and recommendations and never has steered me wrong. I trust him with all my Louboutins and all my other designer heels for years now. He is very careful and extremely detail oriented. He takes his times, and never rushes. I like the fact that he tells you like it is, and does not «sugar coat» facts. I spend a lot of money on my shoes, and I feel his price is comparable to other cobblers in the city… that is, who perform comparable work… but hard to find a comparable Cobbler. You pay for what you get! I’ve gone to the Cobblers which was recommended by Saks, Neimans, and Prada — yes, they were a bit cheaper, but did not do a good job resoling– very sloppy work. Giving my shoe business to Zavo is well worth it. He truly is a «diamond in the rough»…but I would not trade him for another Cobbler!

Zavo is a knowledgeable and skilled cobbler.
People who complain about his being less than polished are perhaps being unfair to a hardworking, blue-​collar guy who is on his feet from 8 am — 6 pm in a cubbyhole of a store. If you want schmoozing from your service provider, go elsewhere.
His prices are low both for the neighborhood (Presidio Heights/​Laurel Heights) and for the work performed.

This guy is rude rude rude. Stopped by one day to get a quote on a pair of shoes I was wearing at the time He gave me a (high) quote, but I decided to do it anyway because of the convenient location. Came back the next day with the shoes, and he said the cost would be $ 10 more than the quote. I reminded him of yesterday’s conversation and he got defensive and argumentative but agreed to the original price. I asked him when they’d be ready, and here he got his revenge. «It will be a long time… whenever I decide to get to it… I’ll call you when they’re done». Never got a call, so after 4 weeks I called him. (I was actually scared to call him.) He said they had been done weeks before and that he had called. (He hadn’t). I picked up my shoes and will never go back there. There is something scary about that guy… not sure why, but just a scary vibe from him.

I’m been in the neighborhood over 20 yrs — he seemed to be quite friendly and inexpensive or price worthy — however, my last experience was like being cold cocked ! Perhaps it was my fault for not asking for a quote but both pair of shoes were of minor repair and I didn’t think it would cost sto much! i could have bought 2 pair of new shoes for the what was charged. Needless to say, I’ll never do business with this guy again!

I’ll admit I’m a guilty one that uses Unilocal all the time, but rarely submits reviews myself. I was so infuriated after my Cobblers Bench visit, that I realized I have to start Unilocaling on the reg. Rather than write on and on and on (NASA studies show that people only like to read one paragraph), I’ll just give you bullet points and takeaways.
1. Location was key for me as I live in the Presidio and he has Saturday hours
2. The work is OKAY. Nothing great, but he did what I asked.
3. He definitely doesn’t go the extra mile for any extras (e.g. shoe shine)
4. He can be blunt and at time it can come off as rude, but I’m somewhat of an A Hole myself, so this didn’t bother me, plus I think it’s mostly cultural.
5. He is insanely over-​the-​top expensive, hence my fury. I get it. You have a shop in Pac Heights where nobody cares about money. So, this is mostly a fair warning to those that can feel the difference between $ 20 and $ 200.
6. There are better, friendlier, more economical options on Union st and in Lower Pac Heights on Fillmore. I even went straight from Cobblers to the shop on Union to see what he would have charged me. I didn’t tell him what I paid and he shot me a quote 25% lower.
At the end of the day, I should have just left the shoes there and told him to keep them. My biggest mistake… not checking Unilocal before going here. Any place with sporadic reviews like this place is a crap shoot.

I love shoes, and I have a lot of them… expensive and inexpensive. I’m very tough on my shoes too, and I’m always wearing the heels and soles down. Zavo has always done a great job, and I’ve been bringing my shoes to him for over a year now. I typically only have him fix the heels that have worn down, but I have given him more difficult jobs as well. He always comes through, and my shoes come out looking great. My shoes are usually ready when he says they will be and many times they’ve been finished early. He is helpful too when something isn’t right. When one of my new heels started coming loose, he fixed it on the spot. I don’t get all of the reviews talking about how rude he is. He’s direct when he speaks with you, but I wouldn’t consider him rude at all. It’s good to know that he prefers cash unless you have several pairs that you’re paying for. I’ve never had any issues at all with this place, and I’m happy he’s a part of my hood!

I read alot of the reviews and am struck that some reviewers call him rude, others say they appreciate his directness and that he” tells it like it is.” Seems to me this says more about the customers than it does about the cobbler. My experience is that he is professional, thorough, honest, tells it like it is (he scolded me for letting my suede shoes get so dirty) … a bit on the expensive side… but no doubt his rent is astronomical in that neighbourhood full of rich folks who dont feel the difference between $ 3 and $ 30.

Overpriced and bad attitude. No way!

I brought in a pair of lime green clogs which needed a good going
over which included dyeing because they were so scuffed. He did a fantastic job and matched this very odd color perfectly. This shoe repair shop can be a little pricey but when I have brought my shoes to other repair shops the job is not as well done and/​or does not last as long. This is not a personality contest — I don’t really care how he comes across as long as he does a good job which he does. I do recommend this shop.

The owner is a TOTAL D*@K!!! Hands down the worst experience I’ve encountered in town.
I brought in my brand new belt to get shortened. When I returned to pick it up, I pointed out that the fastening screws that he reinserted into the belt were no longer flush with the surface of the belt and would scratch the leather. He attempted to fix it and said that was the best he could do. I felt the belt again and tried to explain to him why it wasn’t acceptable work. Without looking at it, he opened up the register, pulled out my $ 12 and threw it back at me saying, «Go! Go now! Have a nice life!!! Have a nice life!!». He then took me by the back of my neck and *physically* pushed me out the store yelling, «A*sh*le! A*sh*le! Stupid a*sh*le!» and shut the door behind me.
I was and am still stunned that anyone can run a business that way let alone get away with treating their customers like trash. Please, please, please do not patronize this sad old dude.

Real rude dude. Don’t bother. Seriously.

I have lived in this neighborhood for many years and I like to support the local establishments. I once before walked into this shop to have a pair of my husband’s shoes repaired. This time I needed the strap on my purse repaired. The guy’s attitude is unbelievably rude, patronizing and completely unprofessional. I experienced this both times — the first time I left and didn’t leave my husband’s shoes, this time I did leave my purse. The job he did on my purse was simply standard … not at all at the professional level some of these reviews suggest it would be.
I really wonder if anyone would give this guy the time of day or put up with his horrible attitude if he wasn’t on Sacramento Street …
There are plenty more better cobblers out there!
This is my first Unilocal review — I felt that strongly I just had to share.

This place is way overdue for an updated review. Yes, they held a special place in my heart because of their location 2 blocks away from where I grew up, and the fact that my grandmother used to go to them.
However, either my expectations for shoe repair have gone up, or their level of service has gone down, because nowadays, I won’t DARE take a pair of shoes here. I forget his name, but the main shoe repair guy was always very stubborn and consistently had a pompous attitude with me on a regular basis, especially if we’re not seeing eye to eye on something. He was never willing to hear me out, on anything… a very «know it all» attitude that I did not like.
The last straw was when he cracked the lucite heel of a pair of $ 475 Rock and Republic heels after I asked him to put a new heel tip on it. He said that «I brought it in that way» and refused to hear me out or make up for it. He was blatantly lying. I know for A FACT that the heel was not cracked when I brought it in. I’ve never gone back to him since.
Also, there were numerous occasions where he had told me that there was «nothing he could do», yet when I’d take my shoes to Union St shoe repair, somehow Victor would miraculously find a way to do exactly what I wanted every time. The guy cuts corners and he’s rude. He is not the customer service specialist by ANY means.
Don’t take your fine shoes here. Go to Anthony’s downtown instead.

85 $ per zipper to be replaced in my FAVE black boots… I think not.
Skip this place if you have an regard for spending your money wisely.

I would recommend this cobbler to someone who needs Prada’s fixed but not hiking boots. I gave my favorite pair of italian nubuck leather boots to this shop, explained I was hiking the appalachian trail and would need them to be resoled with hiking soles. The soles were the correct soles and were more for city walking. Strange since I asked the cobbler if he understood what it was I was going to be doing with these boots. He agreed and acknowledged they would be fine.
They are not fine and now he will not fix them unless I pay him another $ 95. I could have just bought a new pair for a little more and saved myself the headache. I will never go back, even though the soles he put on my boots are well done. I just don’t think, even if a job is done well, but incorrect that it should be the customers responsibility.

Bravo, Zavo!
Zavo is the man who brings your St. John peep-​toes back to life after an awkward heel-​break gone unnoticed for too long. Zavo curses your Pradas as «poorly made» as he re-​heels the little nubs for the 5^th time. Zavo stretches your Elie Tahari flats, which you mistakenly thought would actually be comfortable, not feet-​binding torture devices. Zavo points to the sheepskin inserts on the back wall to render your old dog-​walking Uggs fluffy inside once more. Zavo educates you on the need to apply protectant to your nude-​colored suede to prevent denim staining, but then removes the blotches like a magician. Zavo… solves problems.
And my feet thank him for that.