Barrington Shoe Service

They did a wonderful job. I was very nervous to bring in my shoes, as I didn’t want anything to go wrong — they are Christian Louboutins and I wanted to get protective red soles put on them.
Excellent, quality work. I have been there twice now and the work has been phenomenal both times.
It is cash only and you must prepay, just as a heads up.

Absolutely horrible service. Was told he would try to fix the heel on my boots. I was asked to prepay, which I did. When I went to pick-​up my boots, I couldn’t not find my ticket. I accidentally lost it. When I explained this to the owner, he said you must have ticket and refused to look for my boots in his store. The ticket — the size of a small carnival ticket — I apologized for losing it and offered various forms of other types of identification. I asked to look through the store myself for my boots. He refused. He told me to look through his «book» or orders and look for my phone number. It was not listed. Meaning, he never wrote down my job. This only made him more mad and he kept telling me I needed my ticket. How many times can a person apologize for accidentally losing a pick-​up ticket? He then asked me to write a description and leave my name and number and he would try to look for it later. I called a day later and asked if he had any luck. He said no and that he didn’t have time to look for my already paid for boots. I asked several times and apologized again for misplacing the ticket. He told me to not come into his store and that he did not have time to look for my boots and then hung up on me. Unbelievably rude. Will not go back again.

Barrington Shoe Service is one of the best I’ve experienced. I refuse to go anywhere else. The service is impeccable, my shoes come back like new (even if I abused them), and they did a beautiful job of refinishing my long black leather coat. The people are masters and rare these days. I hope they never retire.

Eve A, it is too bad you didn’t stop to ask the name of the fine gentleman who repaired your items. His name is Leon, and he is wonderful with all kinds of repairs. I have been there at least eight or 10 times. He has refurbished old boots, fixed a broken zipper head on my purse, and is very hard-​working. I highly recommend the shop. Pre-​payment is required, because unfortunately other customers in the past had given him work to do and didn’t prepay. And never picked up their items, either. Too bad for them. They are missing seeing the results of this fine shop. The shop loses one star only because he only takes cash. Prices are definitely commensurate with the quality of Leon’s work.

Hard to find someone that will do a repair on your Prada boots when out of town visiting Mom in Barrington. Great work and I’m back on the road with my shiny like Italian investment. Grazi.

I have taken four pairs of shoes and one pair of boots to this shop in the past year. His work is excellent. Yes, it is cash only and you must leave a deposit when you drop off items. I have felt his prices were totally fair – especially given the results. It’s a small investment to keep things looking good. The work has ranged from minor repairs, polish, and heels – even a funky shade of red for one pair – all to my satisfaction. Nice to find this cobbler in the burbs!

«No shoe for you!»
…says the Shoe Nazi. Okay, better put, the Shoe Slav-​of-​indeterminate-​origin. I hand over my exquisite wine-​red tooled-​leather ankle boots, which years of exposure to salt, snow and mud have worn threadbare, and cringe.
«How much!» the Shoe Stalin intones at me.
«What?»
“HOW MUCH!“
It slowly dawns on me that the Slav wishes to haggle. My forebears were good at this, I reason blankly, and I can do it too.
«Uh…see these holes, and these, and this scuff here?»
«How much.»
I realize that in his country I would be considered a plain idiot.
«Uh. Forty.»
«Sixty!»
”…forty-​five?”
“Fifty! By when?“
By Friday, okay?
They better be good, or I’m calling his mom.
Epilogue: The Shoe Cossack did a beautiful job, but it took me fifteen minutes to page through his account books to find my order; he had written down my phone number incorrectly. This is not a posh place by any means, but they do good work. Na zdarovye!