Albert’s Shoe Repair

It took more than two weeks to do taps on one pair of heels (not my shoes). Upon entering his shop he completely forgot what pair of shoes I was talking about. He scattered through the pile of customer shoes to find the pair I requested to be fixed. There is little care put into shoes he has at hand. When I asked why it took long, he simply states «I’ve been busy.» If you think you’ll be too busy to take new clients, please say so. I recommend the shop owner to 1. Have an organized system for storing his customers’ shoes 2. Give an affirmative date and time as to when X request will be done.

Took a pair of leather sandals in to have the soles and insoles reglued and the leather shined. Glue was smeared on the side of the leather upper, which tore away the color finish. I could have saved my $ 15 and done it myself and taken much more care with the glueing.

Brought four pairs of ladies’ shoes to «Alex Expert Shoe Repair» on Monday and Alex (the Russian-​accented taciturn cobbler and proprietor) telephoned me Wednesday evening to tell me they were ready. (I picked them up on Thursday.) Alex told me he does not stint on his materials, he has 20 years experience working in Manhattan, and many of his Manhattan customers now patronize his business in Astoria. (I have no reason to doubt his years of experience, and to my non-​expert eyes he did an excellent job for me.) He replaced heels and in some cases soles and in all cases shined and polished the shoes so they looked like new. His prices seemed reasonable (although he was not willing to haggle for a volume discount), certainly comparable to another cobbler’s prices nearby («Astoria Shoe Repair»). We agreed the key to a man’s happiness is making his woman happy, so if my woman is happy when she sees her old, well-​worn shoes now looking like new, then I shall be happy, too.

I seriously wont take my shoes anywhere else I brought him a dry leather, cracked heel, scuffed black pair of low heel flats and he restored them like new, all my shoes come back like new and he even weather-​proofs my boots for me.
His prices are highly reasonable and his turnaround is flexible.
I highly highly recommend him for anything you need at all for your shoes.
He’s a wizard with leather.
I have brought him Boots, heel, flats, sandals.
I’ve had repaired: holes in leather weave, broken heel, worn heel down to the metal, worn heel cap INTO the actual heel (and he replaced the whole heel), weather proofing, polishing, re-​staining, fixed buckles.
He will save your favorite shoes
¹⁰⁄₁₀

Whaaaaat. Yeah this guy is no Mr. personality or anything, and the fumes in the place could knock a buzzard off a shit wagon, but that aside, I had my wolverine boots resoled and polished here, and they came back looking great. I paid $ 65 for it all, which was a little more than I wanted to pay, but as my mother said, «You get what you pay for».

Alex best of the best shoemaker i ever seen .He knows what exactly need to be done with your shooes, boots or bags. He works only with high quality material, never used a cheap material. If you looking for quality work done go to Alex.

I don’t know what happened to Albert, but this guy s name is Alex. He is somewhat nice, but charges an arm and a leg… Or a shoe and boot… In Astoria. I took two pairs of booties in to fix the heels… He randomly charged $ 40… Each… That s ‘leather spa’ manhattan prices… And it took 2 weeks for one of the pair… Was not an $ 80 job, I’m trying the other guy.

Alex did an amazing Job!
My heavy duty snow/​slush/​rain/​mud boots were leaking and the soles where getting unglued. Now they are like new and he saved me at least $ 100!

I have been meaning to get a pair of riding boots fixed but was having trouble finding a place in Astoria that was convent, good, and not going to charge me ridiculous Manhattan prices. So I went to Albert’s based on all the positive Unilocal reviews. When I went in Alex was very nice and jokingly asked how I could destroy such a nice pair of boots. Although he couldn’t find a matching color slide for one of the zippers on my boots, he came close enough that no one would notice. I dropped them off last Saturday and picked them up yesterday, which with the holiday weekend last week is about the time I expected to replace the zipper, both heels, and clean up my boots. I was surprised that he did all of this and stitched up some minor wear and tear spots on the heel guards for $ 45. After some inspection it was clearly quality work. Even with my habit of wearing out my boots I think they’ll hold up pretty nicely.

I dropped off my boots for a resole. The did a great job and it was very reap ably priced I will be going back with my other footware

He did an awesome job repairing and cleaning up two pairs of boots. They are now like new!

Best in town. Bought a new pair of fancy boots for my wedding but they had no traction. Alex fixed that in a snap, for a fair price too.

Went to Albert based on other Unilocal reviews to fix some sandals last minute. I got caught in one of those crazy flooding rainstorms we’ve been having while I was wearing them and the next day I realized the sole had completely come unglued. I was heading out on vacation that weekend so I ran to Albert’s right when he opened and he said he’d have it done in two hours. Came back and the sandal was perfect, I’ve worn them for the last week now with no trouble. Very cheap too, only $ 10 for the one shoe. Just remember cash only and he requires half upfront.
Definitely will be heading back when my boots need repair this winter. Thanks Albert!

I was skeptical that anyone could save my boots, but Alex works magic, is thorough and really nice. We checked out shoe repair shops closer by or in Manhattan, but she decided to try Albert’s Shoe Repair based on reviews. Can completely confirm everyone else’s experience.
My shoes were completely scuffed up, needing resoling and new heels, AND I wanted to add a bit of height to the new heels. In six days (as quoted) for $ 55, I had brand new shoes again. The color of the polish and heel matched the original perfectly. He’s not pushy or judgmental that my shoes aren’t $ 500 and took time to show me different materials for the soles (thickness, treads, colors).
Cash only and you pay about 70% upfront as deposit. He does all other things, such as zipper repair, keys, and watch battery replacement too. Don’t go expecting your shoes fixed overnight for the dirt cheapest price; go if you’re the kind of person who values quality and a job well done.
Location is relatively easy to reach from subway, so it’s really worth the time.

Albert is the man that Heart was singing about back in the 80s — dude has magic hands. I dropped off a pair of Aldo boots that I thought were done. Two worn heels, a broken zipper and frayed to hell, these little bastards met their match. $ 45 later, they look brand new! Albert was so nice — I didn’t realize he was cash only, but he still let me drop off the boots even though I didn’t have enough for the deposit. Fast, friendly service. Try, try, try to understand — he’s a magic man.

The place doesn’t look like much but I just picked up my boots and they are better than when I bought them. New soles, new heel, wear and tear repaired on the front toes. I told him he did a great job and said, ‘Yes, I know.” He’s confident and good at what he does. Fine with me, that’s what I want from someone who’s fixing my stuff.

$ 27 later and my $ 325+ Cole Haan boots look brand new. New heels, repairing two broken faux laces, and a full polish job.
Alex also repaired two pairs of Birkenstocks for my husband and me for $ 40/​each. These took awhile because he had to order the new soles from his supplier (he actually had some black soles on hand but my sandals used white soles and had to be special ordered).
As other reviewers mentioned, he is not cheap and he is not fast, but the quality of work is fantastic. He does require a fairly large deposit when you drop your shoes off. He is also conveniently located next door to my preferred tailor in Astoria, so you can knock out a couple errands in one go.

Just picked up my Steve Madden boots.
One heel was completely broken off and worn down to where the leather of the boot was compromised.
Alex did an excellent job and exceeded my expectations. He cleaned the leather and stitched certain parts that had gone array, very nicely.
Not to mention he is extremely accommodating.
I wasn’t 100% with the heel height, and he added an extra portion, at no charge.
Very nice man.

I drag my feet when I walk. (I know. Sexy, right? Not.) And because of this, I wear down the heels of my shoes very easily. Add that to a short attention span for shoes and a penchant for shoe shopping and you can imagine the piles of shoes I have that need fixin’. Well that laziness bit me in the ass this weekend when I realized that *gasp* the shoes I was planning to wear with my Halloween costume that night were unwearable unless the heels were fixed. I did an emergency Unilocal search and found Albert’s. A phone call confirmed that they were open on a Saturday (most of the other shoe repair shops in Astoria are only open M-​F) and I rushed over with my shoes.
To fix both heels on a pair of ankle boots cost just $ 10, a total bargain considering all of the shoe repair shops near my office in Midtown charge $ 15+/pair. I was able to pick up my shoes just an hour after I dropped them off, and was happy to see that the heels were as good as new. Efficient good work, and inexpensive to boot (yay puns!)~ need I say more? Now I just need to gather up all of my broken babies and bring them to Albert’s…
*Cash only!

I took a pair of my bally’s here to get the soles re-​glued. They did it pretty quick and according to Albert he took off the sole completely sanded off all the impurities and glues them back. Though he couldn’t garuntee that they would be free from defect they look to be in good shape.
Note: if I wear the shoes tomorrow and they fall apart I will be updating the review and bring the shoes back.