Eastern Market Shoe Repair & Alterations

I brought a pair of riding boots that were very scratched and worn with a rotten sole, and a pair of light colored loafers with month old red wine stains. The boots were polished with some major scratches repaired and waterproofed with a new rubber sole. The loafers were cleaned to look brand new without any sign of the red wine incident. I’m so happy with the service and will gladly bring my shoes here in the future. The store was open when expected, the phone was answered when I called, and my shoes were ready in 2 weeks as promised.

I realize that many people out there might be a fan of this shop. After all, it was recommended to me by some trusted friends. Therefore, I will say this was simply my encounter with this shoe repair business and experiences may vary. First off, it took him almost a month to shine two shoes, clean one, and replace a pair of heels — all services I had to pay for in advance when I dropped off the shoes. I’ve had this done in two days at other shops and never had to pay ahead of time. Never once could I reach him on the phone. The first time I showed up he had a sign posted that said he’d be back in 10mins. After waiting 30mins he showed up said they weren’t ready. The truth is they hadn’t even been started — I could see them sitting on the table. I went back a couple days later and he forgot to do one of the services for which I’d prepaid. I went back a third time and finally the shoes were ready and the polish and cleaning job were fine. They were nothing spectacular, certainly not worth the amount I paid, and certainly not worth waiting over 3 weeks.

This place is fantastic. My husband and I trusted him with several pairs of our favorite, most beloved shoes and he brought them back to life. The owner is from Jamaica, knows all about shoes and even knows how to make sure. He’s a true professional. We will definitely be back!

Very nice Jamaican owner who will fix whatever the problem is with your… purse, shoe, leather anything! He is great and while prices aren’t cheap, they’re competitive with Cap Hill’s expensive lifestyle. I’ll go back if need be!

I am very unhappy with the service provided by the shop. I needed to get the elastic band fixed on a pair of shoes. He replaced, but it had completely lost it’s elasticity. I asked him to replace it with ones that still had their stretch. He said that I’d have to go out and purchase the elastic myself. I wanted the shoes fixed so I did it. When he dyed this elastic you could easily see the white parts when you put on the shoes. He told me that I would have to buy it myself, and in a rather nasty tone. By then I was thoroughly disgusted. At no point did he offer to refund or even reduce the exorbitant fee that I’d paid.
I left and went to another shoe repair shop. He had no problem in repairing the shoes, and he only charged me $ 5 to do it. I will never go to Eastern Market Shoe Repair again.

The shoes I dropped off for repair were not ready when promised. The quality of work was not what I expected.

I brought in my poor broken flip flop and he fixed it very nicely for $ 15. He’s a little quirky and it wasn’t available «while I wait» despite a sign advertising that (maybe sometimes it is, depending on how much work he has) but he was friendly and did a great job. Conveniently located near metro stop.

Called at 4:40 ask if «while you wait» service was still available to replace a pair of heel tips. The owner told me to be there by 5pm and he could fix it. Luckily, I work close and made it by 5:15. The repair only took 10 minutes and he shined my shoes for only $ 20. I was elated! Nice guy too!

I took a pair of shoes here a few months ago to get the tips of my heels replaced on a pair of shoes I wore regularly to work. Although I did think the price was pretty high ($ 15), the owner not only replaced the heel tips, but also cleaned and oiled the leather on my shoes. I took them in on a Friday afternoon and they were ready by Saturday afternoon. The owner was very nice and, best of all, my shoes are still doing great today! I will likely go back here when I need a cobbler given that it’s close and very easy — I just wish the prices were cheaper.

The worst. In addition to being overpriced, I have now had the experience, twice, of my shoes not being ready on the day specified on the ticket. Several times I have stopped by the store only to be a greeted by a «be back in 10 minutes» sign. The last time I waited 20 minutes for the owner to be «back in 10» before I gave up. When I stopped by the store later that day, my shoes weren’t even ready. Honestly, if the craftmanship of the repairs were amazing, it wouldn’t even matter to me because the customer service is horrible.

Excellent customer service. Eton is friendly, helpful, and if you call after 5pm to ask if your repair (give him your ticket number) is done — he will cheerfully look it up and tell you to call back in ten minutes. The man saved me a couple trips, and when I pick up my shoes they always look great.
The first pair are my white 1-​strap Birkenstocks that needed the special Birkenstock sole (that he is approved for re-​soling) around $ 60. They looked like new! Second pair are my favorite Cole Haan black pumps that he put new heel tips on, re-​soled, fixed scuff marks and shined, $ 40. While picking up, I was also dropping off a 3^rd pair of Cole Haan black patent flats that needed to be re-​soled and mended badly. I am pleased to say that they look FABULOUS now. I wholeheartedly recommend this place — the price tag is worth it. He knows what he is doing: rare for a city cobbler.

They wanted to charge $ 40 to repair a broken strap on my Nine West shoe. It’s more than the shoes themselves cost new, and for that price I could almost buy a heavy-​duty sewing machine and do it myself. I guess they’re banking on the notion that their proximity to the Capitol brings in a lot of customers with $ 500+ shoes, but the truth is that most of us on the Hill are not so wealthy.
I ended up taking the shoes with me on a trip to India and getting them fixed for about a dollar. :)

Overpriced and I the finished product wasn’t that great. I took a pair of shoes in to be resoled and fairly soon (much less time than I’d expect… especially for the price) the sole is parting again.

Yeah, $ 10 for a shoe shining. When I got home, I saw that he didn’t even shine them. 0 stars for you.

The only reason I gave it even one star is because I couldn’t give it zero stars. I will never go back here. It took me over three months (yes, you read that right) to get my items back. Worst customer service EVER.
My experience was similar to Michelle B.‘s, based on her review. Seriously overpriced, but I had a bag that was completely stained and sandals with torn leather that nobody else said they could fix. Given the Unilocal reviews, I went ahead with it even though I had to pre-​pay for the service.
I dropped them off on April 24, and he told me they would be done in 2 – 3 weeks, but that he would call me when they were ready. I get to three weeks and no call, so I called him… he took my ticket number and said he’d call me back. Guess what? Never did. It gets to maybe five days later, I call again, and he yells at me over the phone, «I know! I’ll call you!» Yup, you guessed it — no call back. I wait till 4 ½ weeks to call again. Same response — he said he’d call me by the end of the day, but I never heard from him. When I called again a week later, he told me to call back in a couple of weeks. Well, now he wants me to call SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS after I originally dropped off my shoes and bag, and he won’t even tell me when they might be ready???
Yes. It gets worse.
I keep calling every week or so, and every time it’s the same conversation. Finally one Friday he says I can pick them up. I said, «how late are you open?» And he said he had to get them from somewhere so I can’t come until Monday. I want to ask where the @#*$& my shoes and bag have actually been, but I really just want them back so I say okay. He tells me they’re open till 6:00pm. I go in on Monday at 5:40pm, and the place is locked. After knocking and trying to get his attention, he finally comes over to the door and points to the clock, which was ridiculous because it was 20 minutes before his closing time. I ask for my bag, which he gets and HE TELLS ME I HAVEN’T PAID. Yes, I’m serious. I take out my claim ticket with the receipt stapled to it and he grudgingly gives me my bag. And the shoes? Yeah, they STILL weren’t there. «Come back later this week.»
Dumbfounded, I didn’t even say anything immediately. I froze and my jaw dropped, and he started yelling at me. «I’m sorry! I’m sorry! You don’t have to say it!» I looked back at him, stunned, and said, «I didn’t even say anything!» He says, «I know, I know! But I know, just go!» And he held the door open for me. I couldn’t get a word out because he kept yelling. When he realized I wasn’t going anywhere even though he was holding the door open for me, he finally stopped yelling and I said, very calmly, «I just have to tell you, I would really have appreciated if you would have told me how long this would take. And it would have been very nice if you had apologized to me about it instead of yelling at me.»
I went back today to pick up the shoes and when he finally found them (after picking up three other pairs and asking me, «are these the ones?» even though I had given him my claim ticket), I told him I would never be back.
Bottom line:
I dropped off my shoes and bag on April 24, with the understanding that they would be ready in 2 – 3 weeks. I finally got them back on July 26 (today), and that was only after fighting with the guy for three months and being yelled at because I kept asking him when they would be ready. (I called to check in maybe once a week, which I didn’t think was unreasonable, given that he kept saying he’d call me back «in the next 5 minutes,» «in an hour,» or «by the end of the day,» and never actually called me back once.)
Overpriced and took me OVER THREE MONTHS to get my shoes and bag back. And *I* got yelled at. Absolutely awful experience.

I took shoes to this cobbler that had been REFUSED by cobblers in both New York and New Haven. He took one look at them and said, «no problem! You can do anything with shoes!» I was skeptical, but had read other Unilocal reviews and so I handed over $ 150 for repair on 6 trashed pairs of shoes.
I was impressed with the results. The one pair that literally no one agreed to repair, he did an amazing job with and they look like new!
I guess I’m giving him only four stars because I felt $ 150 was a bit much (would have liked to pay only $ 20 a shoe) but he did do an amazing job. I highly recommend using him if you have shoes you love that you feel might be beyond repair — I think he can and will try to fix things other cobblers won’t!

I came here through these Unilocal recommendations and via an article my mom saw on the owner in an AARP mag. I brought 4 pairs of flats in (chanel, bcbg, hollwould), as I have a horrible habit of destroying the front toes of my shoes. He wanted to charge me $ 120 to replace the sole at the front (just a small triangle at the tip) and do some minor repairs of the heel on only 3 pairs! I think he saw my nice shoes and tried to rip me off!
I found this to be ridiculously over priced. We negotiated down to $ 80 (not including tax) to repair the front tip sole/​heel on 3 pairs and shortening a strap on a pair of slingbacks (which he claimed he was throwing in for free).
Well I wore the slingbacks once and the whole strap broke open, he forgot to sew the strap back together after gluing it. I should probably return but I’ve been out of town for a month and a half.
The work was done on time and I am mostly satisfied. For the price I guess I expected more. Wouldn’t take my finest shoes here, but for some BCBG flats, fine.

TRASHED shoes going in…
QUALITY fixed shoes going out…
SUPER NICE! is the owner Eton
…plus, their hours, location, and prices are pretty good.
I’m a size 8.5WW in heels, and I utterly trash them. (Mostly from living in unevenly paved Eastern Market and trecking from happy hour to home on grates.) So I hate to buy new shoes because they never fit me. This place is right off of the Eastern Market metro up a set of stairs, so it’s super easy to get to.
He absolutely **saved** a pair of heeled booties for me that had suede coming up the back heel and metal hitting the ground, and took care of a pair of work heels that I had ripped on the side (I wear these three times a week, and it’s still holding five months later post-​repair).
I had LL Bean boots that I wore almost everyday during winter to and I wore them down pretty well. It did cost me a bit to get my boots essentially resoled (the front tip and the heel for $ 40), but they were expensive and well worth the quality assurance.
My only con is that it might be a little slow to get stuff back. But this guy seems to be more of a specialist, since I always see handbags and leather jackets here for repair too.
Tip: When it gets later at night/​gets dark, the owner will lock the door but still be working. Just knock on the door and wave, and he’ll let you right in.

This is a great little shoe repair place that is also open on the weekends. It’s so hard to find a good pair of shoes that are stylish and comfortable, so when the sole on the heel of my favorite pair of shoe cracked, I was so relieved to find this place. The gentleman who worked here took one look at them, and told me there was no problem. I paid about $ 18 (I think) for the sole replacement, and received a pick-​up tag. Couple of days later, picked up the shoes. No problem at all, great job!

YES!!! I don’t really –need– to say more, the «yes» and five stars should say enough. But because this place is so great and interesting, allow me to elaborate.
I used to go to a really great cobbler in tenleytown called American Valet, when I was a student at AU, to get the tips of my heels and under-​toe parts of my shoes fixed & replaced. I moved to the hill roughly a year and a half ago, and searched high & low for a cobbler — trekking across town to get some plastic hammered on to my heels doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
My search efforts were fruitless for the longest time. I gave up. Then, this weekend I found Eastern Market Shoe Repair through a google search and decided to run in and get my heels repaired before happy hour drinks with girlfriends and a date. I called before I left work and found out that they close at 6:15 — I decided to get there by 5:45 so that he could do my shoes while I waited.
I walked in to the shop, just a block from the Eastern Market metro station on Pennsylvania, and loud Jamaican music blasted from the speakers. The friendly and animated owner, Llewellyn, is a sweetheart. He’s had plenty of experience, he’s been in the business for 15 years or so, and he did a great job on my shoes. He’s also affordable.
Short version:
–convenient location, great work, inexpensive, go, go, go!
I’ll be taking in all of my heels to get fixed. I am so happy to find shoe repair on the hill.