Memo’s Shoe Repair

Unfortunately, Memo’s is gone :(

Brought in wingtips for cleaning. At first glance it appeared they had done a decent job. I paid and left. When I went to put on my shoes the next day, I noticed that all of the crevices and cracks had some nasty gunk in it. Not clean, not cool. I would have complained, but decided it would be an exercise in futility.

As other reviewers have mentioned, there is a language barrier. It took a while for him to even understand what I wanted done.
At that time, I had just adopted a dog that decided all my shoes were yummy chew-​toys. I brought in a pair of brand new pumps that needed a new inside sole and a boot that needed the heel repaired from bite marks.
The boot came out alright, so that’s why this is not a one-​star review. But the pump… oh my. The original shoe had this soft padding with black stitching around the edges — very comfortable and pretty. I wasn’t expecting this, but I was definitely expecting more than I got. He originally told me to change the lining in both shoes. I said it wasn’t necessary, and I’m glad I did! Otherwise I’d have TWO bad liners!
What I got was some hard piece of leather that has no cushioning at all. It’s not even cut to the correct size. The edges are wavy and not uniform, and there are pen marks from where he must have taken two seconds to draw an outline (if that). I understand that it’s inside, so what it looks like isn’t the most dire concern, but come on! I daresay it looked better when it was half ripped apart by my dog!
Also, I’m half-​Asian and have a number of Asian friends. This means that the inside of my shoes are on display a great deal of the time whenever I go somewhere or to someone’s house.
Fail.

My experience here was a let down. I’d expected great work after reading a few of the reviews. My aunt had a favourite pair of pumps that needed to be resoled because the bottom was coming off. Because I wanted to do better than just super glueing it back on, I decided to take it here to get resoled.
$ 12.50 was the charge, which I paid upfront. There’s definitely some language barrier because it took a while for the man to understand what I wanted. He gave me a ticket (no ticky, no service) and told me to come back in a few days.
I did and picked up my shoes from a lady this time. They didn’t look like new soles (which was what I had asked for). I was in a hurry to leave though, so I didn’t check until I was home, which was a dumb oversight, I know. I felt a little cheated… What was suppose to be a favour to my aunt now felt a bit embarrassing as all I’d done was pay for something I could have done myself. Oh well… maybe he misunderstood me. Bummer.

Memo is my new uncle whether he approves or not. He completely refurbished my favorite boots for a reasonable price, and he looked me in the eye and schooled me with some pearls of wisdom on working hard and from the heart as i left. I like him. I like his work, and he had my boots ready in two days. My kinda guy. He also cuts keys for two bucks, or something like that… I recommend.

AVOID THIS PLACE!!!
The price would have been a rip off even if the work had been professional, but the work would have to improve greatly to qualify as shoddy.
This does not involve shoes, but I think it tells you a lot about this place. I was making ukulele straps and needed leather pieces sewn onto the end of nylon webbing. I could have done this myself, but wanted a more professional job, since one of the straps was for my girlfriend. I also wanted one to show as a prototype for potential buyers.
I took the straps and leather parts in and expected to pay two or three dollars tops to have the leather sewn to the nylon and the nylon sewn to itself on the other end of the strap. I was quoted $ 6 each, which I believed to be high, but rationalized it on the grounds that prototypes are not cheap and I wanted the work done right.
The work was a complete butchering of the pieces I took in. I have a picture that shows three straps for comparison. I did the one in the middle, by hand, at home. You decide which looks more professional.
I would rather walk barefoot than trust this business with my shoes.

I really wanted to like Memo, especially after my disappointment with the other shoe repair place. First I took a pair of pumps here and asked him to add some straps to them. I have small feet so my high heels always slip off unless they are mary janes. He charged me $ 17. I thought that was a fair price so I left them in his hands. I came back 3 days later to pick them up. He had added straps to them alright but used cheap looking straps that didn’t even match my shoes. I’m not even sure if they were real leather. The stitching were also done poorly but were in places that wouldn’t be seen if I wore the shoes.
The next week, I decided to give him another chance and brought in a pair of boots to be stretched. He initially told me that he could do stretching for about $ 7. However, when I got there and showed him the boots, he told me I needed to get them extended because he wouldn’t be able to stretched them enough.
Besides having small feet, I also have large calves. I know, right? FML.
Mr. Memo brought out some sample leather pieces similar in color to my boots. I chose one, he told me $ 40 and 3 days. Okay, $ 40 was kind of steep and it made me hesitate a little, especially since I was not 100% satisfied with his last job. Again, I took a chance and left my boots with him. I came back to pick them up today and again, was disappointed. The piece of leather that he used as the extender piece had black marking on them from where he made his measurements. Looked like he used a sharpie. Ideally he was suppose to stitch over them but again, his stitching was shotty and now you can see where he drew on the leather. I pointed this out to him and asked if he could remove them. He apparently does not understand much English. I paid him his money and got out of there in a huff. Not coming back here. Poor craftsmanship.

I took in 3 pair of shoes and a leather bracelet that needed fixed just before the store closed at 5 on Thursday he had everything ready the next day before noon and he did such a great job. Memo is a very nice man and very reasonable, parking right out front. Glad there’s a great shop like this near by.

I don’t know why, but it is not easy to find a shoe repair in Long Beach that does not turn out to be: A. crummy or B. overpriced-​until I found Memo’s. Based on the reviews, I took my much needed heels there and the riding boot I had worn past the rubber heel (down to the wood) and he fixed them that day! He is a one man show so between helping customers he took a couple hours to do it so I was able to walk down to Nordstrom Rack and buy more shoes! I thought the price was REALLY REASONABLE. I can’t wait to look through my closet for some other much needed repair. THANK YOU MEMO!

Okay nothing difficult just new taps on the heels $ 7 each pair, but Memo is so nice. It’s like a family business. The store is a little funky and I was a little afraid he may accidently tell me my shoes were missing, but all went well. Parking out front is easy. Shoes finished in one day but I told him I will be back the next. AND… he nicely fixed my betsy johnson belt for free.
THANKS MEMO!

Wow! I found Memo’s though Unilocal,never lets me down.
He saved my favorite boots, and even cleaned them. He has quality work for a WONDERFUL price. He added a better sole, than what they had. Only cost $ 25. Thank you Memo!

Memo’s was recommended to me by the former building manager of my building. I’d told him that I had some shoes that needed some TLC and I wanted to use someone local, so he told me about Memo’s.
He does really great work for a very reasonable price. I had a pair of boots that I’d bought in Italy that did not fit anymore as I’d broken my ankle. I asked him if we could add in a panel to make the upper part of the boot larger to accommodate my ‘cankle’. Memo didn’t really describe to me exactly what he could do except to say that he could fix it. When I went to pick up the boots a week later, not only had he made it so I could now wear my Italian boots, he had tanned leather to match the color exactly! These boots are a sort of burnt red, so they are a very unusual color. I figured he’d use a sort of black elastic material to allow for the expansion. Nope. He literally customized them so that when I wear them you can not even tell that I had anything done to them. Amazing!
He’s also fixed a handbag for me… it is a very expensive designer handbag. The strap was black leather and the bag itself was white leather. I was having a problem with the dye in the strap transferring onto the white bag. Not a good design, unfortunately, but I loved the bag and wanted to find a solution. I had a chain belt that would work really well as a new strap for the bag, but I couldn’t figure out how to fix it myself. He retrofitted the chain belt to become the strap for the handbag, and you can not tell at all that it’s not the original strap. Better yet, when I went to pay for it, Memo basically laughed and told me it was so easy that it would be $ 1 for the job. I gave him $ 5 because I thought his price was too low and I was so pleased with the work he’d done.
Overall, they do amazing work and can absolutely be trusted with expensive and designer goods. You should take all of your leather goods there for repair, cleaning, and TLC to make them look good as new.

I received a Brand NEW pair of Dr. Marten Leather boots for my birthday, but all they had was light leather, I wanted them darker and was told they could be dyed. So I go i nto Memos with the boots asking if its something he can do. First problem, i could hardly understand a word he said through his thick accent, meaning he probably could not understand me… but he hands me a color sheet and tells me to pick the dye color I wanted and they would be ready the next day. I was so excited to see what they would look like darker… he pulled them out of the box to reveal that my brand new boots has basically been PAINTED. he painted the HEEL, that was an awesome natural wood grain, he painted over the cute rustic buckle, and added such a high gloss to what WAS natural leather, they looked like plastic rain boots. I almost cried…200 bucks ruined instantly. I NEVER even had the chance to wear them… Thanks for ruining my birthday present, that my poor girlfriend that barely makes any money saved and saved for… not to mention two cockroaches cruised by the counter while I was waiting… I am beyond disappointed. no words can express how upset I am.

Just when I thought I lost my blue shoes forever, Memo saved them for me. Thank you, Memo.
He also cleaned a great pair of suede shoes that went for a run through the mud (don’t ask).
Fellow Unilocaler Michelle P. recommended Memo’s to me. She said that he will cut the heel of a pump to shorten the heel. I didn’t even know that was possible.
Fixed 2 pairs of name brand shoes for under $ 25. Totally worth it.