Cobblers Bench

DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO LEAVE YOUR SHOES IN THEIR HANDS. I just picked up a pair shoes that needed some cleaning. When I picked them up, they looked dirtier than ever. It looks like someone had wear the shoes and my nice Michael Kors shoes have dirty spots all over. It seems like someone went to a party or has been drinking and my shoes got all the alcohol. They look horrible.

Horrible experience here ! The man that runs the store charged me $ 60 for a half sole repair on one pair of shoes. This sounded pricey but I couldn’t afford new boots and only have one pair so I decided to go for it since it was cheaper then buying a new pair of boots. Second red flag was when he said I couldn’t pick them up until 4 days later. I understand I’m not the only customer this guy has but for a «30 minute» job in his words that’s pretty ridiculous. I decide to pay for it anyway… The day of pickup rolls around and when I get to the mall he had lost my boots! When he finally finds them in the filthy and disorganized shop with shoes piled everywhere he hadn’t even touched them… Tells me to come back later with NO apology. Sorry but I already took time out of my day to drive the 40 minutes round trip to come over here. I don’t think so. When I ask for a refund and to just take my boots he tells me he doesn’t «have any money in the register» ! Are you kidding me? ThE owner seems to use the language barrier as a way to get out of providing good customer service and frankly he was far more disrespectful to me when I came in alone then when my boyfriend was with me too. I guess that’s what I get for going to a shop in Manassas Mall! Avoid this place! Go to a place that actually acts like they need and appreciate your business, won’t charge expensive prices, and values customer service skills!

What do you do when you buy a new pair of boots and one of the eyelet’s pops off as your lacing them up for the first time?
You find a cobbler, right?!
Go see Harold, he is a craftsman and knows his trade.
He is quick and affordable.

Everyone seemed to forget to mention that this is located inside Manassas Mall and is a very small store near Sears. It has a small variety of cleaners, laces, and others nicknacks. It’s mostly a shoe repair place in case you were looking for other items in the store. They were nice.

I have to say, I had a completely different experience than the previous reviewer. Yes, this place looks a bit disorganized, but they really went above and beyond what they had to in repairing my shoes. I took a pair of adorable leather oxford flats there to have the sole reglued, as it was coming off. They glued it, but another day later the sole was coming off again. I brought the shoes back and it turns out that something with the leather and the sole made the glue not able to hold them together. So, the cobbler told me that he would stitch the sole and the shoe together, free of charge, because the glue hadn’t worked. This involved creating holes in the soles of the shoes and handstitching at times. This took quite a bit of effort on his part, but he never charged me anything extra! I love my shoes and am very pleased that they were able to be fixed (without any extra cost!).

I’ve never been so scared of dropping off a nice pair of shoes to get repaired before. I had legitimate concerns they were going to go «missing» because that place is so messy.
That aside, I got a groupon for $ 16 for $ 32 to get my high heels soled. Apparently, that only qualifies you for the little tidbit sole on the heel of the shoe, not the whole shoe. He charged me an extra $ 32 to put a complete sole on the shoe. Translation: if I had not had the groupon, I would have had to pay $ 64 + tax to get 2 pairs of high heels soled! I would NEVER go back, especially when there are places around here that could do the whole thing for $ 10 a shoe. Ridiculous.
Also, dropping off and picking up I had to wait 20 min each time so that he could get to me (and I was the only one in the store?). Be prepared to wait for him…