J & L Shoe Repair

I was sadly not particularly impressed with this shop.
I walked in a week before I had to leave the country, so I felt lucky when the guy behind the counter (owner?) told me my boots would be ready the day I was leaving. And also surprised cause that’s quite a long time compared with other shoe repair shops I have used. I asked that the boots be reheeled, the foot be stretched out, and I asked if he could find some new fabric for the back of the boot that is stretched out. When I arrived back a week later, the shop was open, and there was a guy waiting at the counter, but no one behind it. I first thought that the guy waiting was being helped, but nope, the guy in front of me left in a huff, and then I called out, and turned out the guy was sleeping in the back. When he finally found my boots, it turns out all he had done was the reheeling. I didn’t realize until later that he had not stretched out the foot, but it didn’t surprise me. And he had completely forgotten that I asked him to try to find fabric.
Yah, he did a decent job on one of the things I asked for, but it took a long-​ass time, and he kind of forgot everything else. Sooo, new place next time.

This is by far the friendliest and most inexpensive cobbler I’ve ever used. He did not push for the most expensive options either. I have a great pair of vintage boots from the 70s that he repaired expertly without ripping the entire sole of the shoe off and re-​soling which would have been a much more expensive option.
I brought in:
shoes that needed the sole re-​glued
heels that a strap broke on that needed to be re-​stitched
vintage boots with a hole in the sole that had rubber soles added
total: $ 43

A pretty decent shoe repair shop.
My favorite pair of heels broke (literally, the heel popped off) nearly a year ago — and I kept forgetting to get it fixed until walking by this shop with my dog one day. A week later and several pairs of shoes were brought in. The owner wasn’t the most talkative — but gave us estimates on the shoes he could fix, and let us know which ones were pretty much toast.
A week & $ 37 later — my heels were fixed and the 12 inch zipper on my guy’s ridiculously high boots were repaired. The work looked solid, and the owner became friendlier when we brought the pooch inside to pick up our soles.
Not the cheapest, cleanest, or nicest of shops. But the work done is solid.

I went here because I had heard such good things about this repair shop — cheap & great repairs. Well, I paid $ 27(!) on one one pair of boots to have the soles re-​glued at the toes only & the zipper restitched about 4″ on each boot. And when I went to pick them up, he had only glued one of the toes back, the other was still flapping around, so then I still had to wait while he finished (the boots had been there about two weeks already). Crappy crooked stitching on the zipper repair as well, and the boots are Fluevogs too, he even complimented on the good quality, thick leather. (and make no mistake, they’re well broken in, very worn looking)
But nope, will not be returning.
Felt like I got the royal rip-​off.
And like another reviewer mentioned, he did not shine the shoes either, which I have experienced at other shoe repair shops after picking up my footwear.

It cost $ 16 a pair to replace heels’ sole. The person is not particularly careful with one’s shoes. The leather surface came back slightly damaged. Also the repairman uses sticky masking tape on the leather which leaves the adhesive behind when you try to peel it off. Usually a good repairman would use blue type which is the non-​sticky kind. Also, my repairman back home also would shine the shoes after replacing the sole, this guy doesn’t care enough to do this. Seriously, find someone who loves shoes to replace your heels’ soles, not someone who is just doing it as a job.

This guy does great work. I’ve been taking my shoes here for about two years, and have had him do many heels, a few soles and some boots. He spent the time to make sure the soles and insoles of my (used) boots were level and comfortable, despite years of neglect by the previous owner. Always a quality product!

I love this place!
I live in the neighborhood and this guy is so great. The owner is really friendly and helpful. He does fabulous work for a really reasonable price. The only issue to be aware of is that though he says he’s open at 9am, he very rarely is there at that time. Small issue as he is the best shoe repair guy I’ve been to ever!

Great guy who does very good work at a more-​than-​reasonable price. What more could you want? I’ve gone in for a number of repairs — including one restoration that another store said was impossible. The owner is very honest about what he can and can’t do. The only reason I’m giving 4 stars instead of five is because I’ve had one of his fixes fall apart. But out of the 10 or so repairs he’s done for me, that’s still pretty damn good for saving me $$$ on shoes that I’m able to love a little bit longer. Parking in the area can be a PITA, but he’s worth it.

Maybe it’s our «disposable society» but I remember way more shoe repair shops being around when I was younger. So I was really glad to find some place that had good reviews that was also close to work. I called in advance this morning just around noon and asked if he was very busy today. He asked me what I needed done and I told him that I needed my heels replaced. He told me to come down and I could wait. His service was fast (about 10 minutes) and great quality. I told him I’d be back with more shoes soon. The cost was $ 12.05 to get some heels replaced (fairly small heels), but it’s been so long that I’ve shoes repaired, I’m not sure what the going rate is, but I’m sure he’s reasonably priced. And, might I add, when you are patronizing these small, local businesses, do you best to use cash. I know the merchants appreciate it, and it’s all the same to us if we remember to stop at an ATM beforehand.

The owner is a very pleasant gentleman who does high-​quality and fast work for reasonable prices. I hope this shop stays open indefinitely.

The owner here is super friendly, and the service is relatively inexpensive. I had a pair of giant goth platform boots that I wanted to wear more often (it’s not very practical stomping around in 8-​inch wedges) so I had them cut down and the original sole put back on. It was nice to see that he noticed details — they had a bit of curve on the bottom to begin with, and he replicated it very well after asking me if I wanted to keep the same shape. Cost $ 42, and they have held up really well! Will be back for sure.

One of my legs is shorter than the other, by about 1 cm. For this reason, I have to buy fancy shoes and get one lifted so that my legs will be the same length. It can be incredibly expensive and a major pain in the butt since most places charge hundreds of dollars and take over a month to get it done.
I was so happy to find J & L. I was able to get four shoes lifted in less than a week, all for the price that it would have been to get one shoe lifted at the only other place in Seattle I found that does it. I’ll definitely be going back the next time I need shoes lifted!

Don’t go anywhere else to repair your shoes. I brought 4 pairs of designer pumps in to get the heel lifts repaired and he did a PERFECT job of it in about 40 minutes (and believe me, these shoes were about massacred… I honestly didn’t think they could be saved). He’s so friendly and makes sure that your shoes are FULLY REPAIRED — he’s been repairing shoes for about 22 years. Also, he charged me only $ 39.00! BEST PLACE IN SEATTLE. Don’t go anywhere else!!!

I took in a pair of business-​casual shoes for new heels. The first thing I noticed was the place was hot (middle of August — d’uh) and dusty. My desk is pretty chaotic, so I know that a clean workspace isn’t necessary for quality work in general. However, I think cleanliness and orderliness are significantly more important in craft work than in office work. I wanted to try them anyway, so I handed over my shoes.
I got them back about 5 days later as promised. The work looked bad: the new heels didn’t quite match up with the old soles & there were a few stray pieces of rubber. It got worse: within 10 days the heels started to peel off. $ 20 for nothing.
Since I work downtown I have more convenient options; rather than take them back to give J&L a second try, I went to Busy Shoes in Columbia Tower. (I’d been there before and that guy’s craftsmanship looks great.) The two reasons I gave 2 stars instead of 1 are (1) I didn’t give J&L an opportunity to fix their mistake, so it may have been a fluke, and (2) I don’t yet know how well the new heels will work. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t risk them just to save a few dollars (about $ 4 – 5 on a pair of new heels contrasted with Busy Shoes).

The owner is so nice! I have gone in there to repair my shoe (a tiny piece of elastic had broken). It wasn’t an easy repair, and I was willing to pay for it, but he charged me less than five bucks for the repair!
Also, he’s pretty creative with solutions.

This is a good, inexpensive place to take your shoes to get repaired. I had the heals and soles on my boots repaired for $ 20.00 and they were ready the next day. Conveniently located in the Hill.