Celebrating the Shoe Repair Shop
Some Brooklynites see the shoe repair shop as a dying institution, replaced by bank branches and cell phone stores. So Brooklyn Based has tracked down the borough’s best, extant, cobblers: Yelena in Greenpoint; Express in Boerum Hill; Roman’s in Windsor Terrace, to name a few. Their list continues here. You got nominees? Photo by gkjarvis.
Some Brooklynites see the shoe repair shop as a dying institution, replaced by bank branches and cell phone stores. So Brooklyn Based has tracked down the borough’s best, extant, cobblers: Yelena in Greenpoint; Express in Boerum Hill; Roman’s in Windsor Terrace, to name a few. Their list continues here. You got nominees? Photo by gkjarvis.
‘I’m waiting to see which one of our posters has a real foot fetish.’
I think it’s Ppark.
altervoce…you are correct. I won’t skimp on new soles for my expensive shoes….I take them to the guy in Rockefeller Plaza…probably around $60 or so but I know they’ll be done like they should be. That place is also the best shine in all of the five boroughs I’m sure.
I’m waiting to see which one of our posters has a real foot fetish. I had a great frotttage experience standing next to a young latin guy on the 5 train about a month ago.
There are cobblers and then there are good cobblers. I am an idiot because I kept taking shoes to the guy on Clinton Street, between Joralemon and Remsen, even after he did some really questionable work. What can I say? He is convenient. But when he took a pair of Ferragamo’s and made them look like they came from Payless, he was done. I then tried the guy on the south side of Ninth Street, across from the Y, and I really wanted to like him. Sweet guy, works with what I presume to be his wife…but the last set of new soles fell apart almost immediately, and although he fixed the shoddy (no pun intended) work for free, the soles wore out completely in weeks. Weeks! People recommended the guy on the north side of Montague (down near Connecticut Muffin?) and I have given him his first try-out. So far so good, but expensive!
In 1982 I bought a pair of Bally loafers. Adjusted for inflation, I’m sure they were the most expensive shoes I ever bought. I’ve had them resoled at least 5 times until the tops finally wore a whole through them. They are now my “painting” shoes.
I stopped going to the cobblers about 5 years ago when the prices they charged for re-soleing came close to the cost of a new pair. Of course if you bought a fancy pair that cost plenty, its still worthwhile.
DIBS, what a turn of events. You’ve gone from talking about frottage to talking about footage!
DIBS, plastic is recyclable. No guilt in tossing them aside.
I have a favorite pair of flats that I’ve had re-soled twice now. I can’t part with them. I paid a fortune for them and continue to do so.
BRG, it’s true. I sold my soles to the devil.