Capa Shoe Service

Unfortunately, they are off my list and I am taking 15 years of business somewhere else. I have found that since the elder gentleman has retired/​left, the prices have more than doubled. Telling me that they are not interested in the business.
Example, I asked for two simple black straps for a tote, nothing special any old black pieces of leather that would accommodate a 9 inch drop for my bag — $ 100. This is one of at least 3 stories in the last year.
Bye Bye Capa

My left foot is considerably wider than my right foot. I bought a pair of Mary Jane pumps, and I thought the adjustable straps would work, but they didn’t. I took them in to Capa and made a suggestion as to how to fix the problem. The cobbler took the time to explain to me why my idea wouldn’t work, and he showed me how he would fix the one shoe and guarantee his work. One week later, I am wearing these oh so comfortable shoes, and no one can know that there was ever a problem, especially me.

They were able to hand wash and clean a pair of
Light brown shoes and get deep, dark beer stains out completely! Took less than a week and 25 dollars is well worth the cost! Will DEFINITELY be using them again!

This place was reccomended by a good friend so when it was time for my precious Valentino’s to get a little cleaning, I tried it out.
Alfonso promised me he’d take good care of my babies and sure enough, when I picked them up two days later they were as good as new.
Overall, a great quality spot, I’ll definitely keep coming back.

Quick turnaround (5 days) and they not only replaced the heel but also were able to make my well-​worn out sides of the shoe look like new. They also are open on Saturdays, which is super convenient.

Amazing service. I brought in two pairs of heels and Capa brought them back to life. They repaired the heels and cleaned the shoes, they look new! The services are not cheap but it’s completely worth it!

When it’s too early to part w my favorite pair of shoes, I bring them here. Friendly folks, honest opinion (you may not want to revive these pair of shoes advice), meticulous work, and always on time.

I had a few pairs repaired here last winter and felt like they were solid repairs but expensive. And my items never came back in stellar shape. If they repaired a heel, they did just the heel. No polish or tidying up of the rest of the shoe. It was basic.
I went back in today with two pairs of boots (one of which I swore they’d repaired the heel on last year, but maybe I’m wrong) and just got a bad vibe. There was a lot of upsell («I strongly recommend you do both boots.» «It would be $ 25 for the one but $ 30 for both») and a high price ($ 30) to do some repaired stitching (a 1 inch gap in a split seam) on another boot. For that money I’ll shop around to other places that are either a better deal or deliver better work.

Awesome! I took a leather jacket here a year ago with torn elbow and sleeve. They repaired to perfection. This year I took 5 pairs of shoes. Boots heels etc to have heels done and shined up. Everything turned it better than I could have imagined. Like new!
I would recommend them for any leather repair needs. Great job and reasonable prices for their work!

This place is amazing! Not much of a storefront, but what you get instead is 100% service and quality for an unbeatable price.
I’ve taken countless pairs of shoes here and always come out completely satisfied. They have always been completed on time and the kind polite staff are rare finds in Philadelphia.

Alfonzo of Capa Shoe Service magically transformed an old (and I mean old) pair of Steve Madden Intyce boots for $ 35. See attached a photo– I wish I would’ve thought to get before photos. If it’s any indication of what these boots were like prior to Capa Shoe Service, I showed them to my fiancé after they were done and he said, «Wow, he was even able to get the gum and tar stains out?!»
I highly recommend this place. Plus, there’s just something that feels so good/​responsible/​thrifty about restoring an item you already own — it’s kind of like discovering a $ 20 bill in your jacket pocket!

I’d been coming here for years… shoes, boots, purses; heels replaced, holes repaired, magnet snaps on purses replaced. In the spring I picked up a pair of expensive boots that I’d taken there to be repaired; they were coming apart on the side. When I picked them up in the spring, I simply examined the work, paid for the repairs, and left. It never occurred to me to do anything else… so imagine my surprise when I went to put them on now that the weather is cold again and I could not even get my foot into them! I was shocked… clearly when they did the repair they’d compromised the space for the footbed… hence the extreme narrowing of the boot. So I took them back to the store to explain the situation… fully expecting them to offer to stretch them for no charge. I was APPALLED at the behavior of the man who waited on me. Repeatedly asked for a receipt (I didn’t have that), why’d I wait so long to bring them in (I don’t wear boots in the summer, it never occurred to me to try them on), etc. But IMMEDIATELY when he flipped the boots over and announced that «this doesn’t look like our work» I knew I would get nowhere. I was FURIOUS at how confrontation and argumentative this jerk was. I hadn’t had leather repair done ANYWHERE ELSE for years. Of course, this will change immediately. I will NEVER return to a business where the concept of customer service is so completely foreign. At the very least, I would have expected them to make an attempt at making things right. They had absolutely NO interest. I will never return, and will advise my friends and coworkers to find somewhere else to meet their leather needs.

I brought a pair of suede shoes here with pretty significant water damage and oil stains and Capa managed to get them both out! They were courteous both in person and on the phone, and clearly put a lot of effort and care into their work. They certainly exceeded my expectations.

I recently got around to taking a couple of pairs of boots in various states of disrepair into Capa Shoe Service, and I am SO glad I did!
One pair of stiletto boots simply needed new caps on the heels and a minor repair to badly scuffed leather at the pointed toes. A second pair of boots had one broken heel, so both heels were reconstructed. The third was a pair of of thigh-​high brown suede boots that I thought were probably not worth saving (both heels broken, and broken zipper, and heavy water and salt damage all over). but Capa’s convinced me otherwise.
I said good bye to my boots, and was advised to return in a week. I was not at all surprised to observe the good quality of the basic repairs done to boots 1 and 2. However, when I opened the box of boots 3, I was simply amazed. The heels and broken zipper had obviously been replaced, but the boots also looked brand new! I don’t know what voodoo magic they used to revive the filthy matted suede to a soft, velvety brown, and I don’t care.
Did I mention that this all cost around $ 50? Go here. Get your shoes fixed or your boots cleaned, buy a weird leather fanny pack or whatever suits your fancy. If you have a leather-​related need, they will hook you up.

Sooooo… how do you feel about, say — BELT BUCKLES?
WELL! Have I got a place for YOU! Now, the weird part about Capa is its location. That whole block of chestnut between 10^th and 9^th is no man’s land. But shoved in a tiny storefront there in the middle of the block is a leathergoods shop where they have everything from shoes to jackets, a repair shop, and of course, a gazillion choices to hold up your pants. It’s kind of amazing.
I wish I had more to say about Capa. But I don’t. It’s great. And even if you never wear belts, it’s worth a look, because who knows when all that Unilocaling of new eateries will lead directly to a few rips in the shoulders of your leather jacket.

In an age when just about everything is disposable, and when women’s shoes seem to be designed primarily for suburbanites who only wear them to push the gas pedal, I am so grateful to have Capa. I love shoes, and I walk everywhere so I work them pretty hard. Whenever a shoe suffers an injury, I bring it in to Alphonso (we know each other by first name now, so what?). He politely refrains from commenting that I own a whole hell of a lot of shoes and performs an expert examination of the patient, offers a diagnosis, discusses treatment options with me, and then nurses my baby back to health within a week for an always reasonable price.
He’s performed pretty complex surgical procedures, too. I had a pair of boots whose tongues were made of really soft leather, so they always flopped down around my ankles, which looked dumb. Alphonso and his crew conferred over them for a while, and finally decided to slit open the tongues, insert a stiffer piece of leather into each one, and then stitch them back up. They came out perfectly: the appearance of the boots was unchanged, but the tongues were no longer… flaccid.
Capa makes me feel better about my shoe habit. They can fix anything, so my shoes last longer, and I feel good patronizing a local business that employs skilled workers in what is unfortunately a dying art. I hope they stick around for a long time, because boots just aren’t made for walking nowadays.

Pretty poor experience here.
I had two shoes resoled. I did not specify which type of sole I wanted and I was surprised to find that I got rubber soles. Rubber soles retain moisture and shorten the life of a pair of shoes, so I was pretty disappointed.
Making matters worse, after a few weeks my rubber soles started to fall off!
Poor quality product, poor quality workmanship.

I am very hard on my shoes and I wear through shoes faster than should be humanly possible. I was told by my last shoe repair guy, as he chuckled over the state of my heels, that I «must be a very aggressive walker».
After moving, I was half-​heartedly searching for a new shoe guy and when two pairs of heels were well-​past wearing I took a gander at Unilocal,saw the great reviews for Capa and took the sad little pairs in.
Capa offered everything I was looking for in shoe repair. Quick, no nonsense service with fantastic results. My shoes look brand new — and that’s a feat. On top of that, prices were fair ($ 28 for two pairs heeled and polished).
Bravo Capa!

Capas is amazing. I took a pair of faux snake-​skin boots there and had him put on 7″ of platform for use with a halloween costume. They not only survived 2 halloween parties, BUT also survived a night of dancing in a club. WELL DONE… inexpensive for the quality of work!
WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND

When I learned about Capa’s ability to resurrect shoes from the dead, I quickly made it a priority to bring my well-​worn + very loved (roller) skates in to get the interiors relined.
I wish I had taken before + after pictures as such would do this review far more justice that my ability to articulate just how destroyed the inside of these skate boots were. The metal heel counter was exposed and most of the lining was torn + dry-​rotted from the beating my skates take from playing roller derby. I had survived most of last season by regular duct-​tape maintenance and the inevitable blisters from my feet rubbing on said duct-​tape.
When I arrived I was pleasantly welcomed by the man working the front counter + I explained the challenge at hand. He was completely unfazed and brought my skates into the back to get an idea of what was possible. I enjoyed looking around the store, which had a decidedly old-​timey vibe (hand-​written signs, wood + glass display cases, leather goods lining the walls) and found the picture completed by the opera music playing in the back-​room where the cobbler (s?) were working.
When he came back out he said it would be $ 34 to completely re-​line my beloved skates in new leather, and in two days no less. When I returned to pick them up I was amazed at how great they looked + am now super excited to skate at practice tomorrow without my feet getting ripped up. Capa has saved me from the need to buy new skate boots (about $ 300) and breaking them in (torture).
I would highly recommend Capa to anyone with either just regular shoe maintenance projects or those challenges you save up for when you just can’t bear to get rid of your favourite pair of shoes or boots.