Cobbler Shop West — Local services in Natick

I brought a pair of nubuck boots to be resoled and cleaned, as well as a small purse that needed a simple strap repair. The resole of the boots was good and I was happy to get rid of a squeak when I walked, but the boots were barely cleaned. When I pointed this out, the repairer took a wire brush and just tore into the nubuck, which has lower nap than suede, and required different method.

The repair of the purse strap was OK, albeit a bit sloppy. I saw that there was what looked like shoe whitener on my purse and asked if he could remove that. He insisted that I brought it in that way. I replied that I have no white leather goods or white paint at home, and he begrudgingly removed it. (I had also noticed that they had hung my purse against a wire hanger, which left an indentation in the leather, but I didn't bother to say anything, since it was clear they don't care much about service and quality.) I fixed that on my own.

All this was on top of their having held on to a vegan leather duffle that I was hoping to have repaired. (This was on my first visit.) The repairer, who wasn't in, was to let me know if it was reparable, but he didn't get back to me for weeks, despite my popping in multiple times to ask about it. I never got an answer and I just took the duffle back.

It just seems to be a hassel working with them, and the rudeness each time just adds insult to injury. It shouldn't be hard to simply be professional, even if they can't manage to be polite. It's too bad, since there aren't many shoe repair shops around any more and I'm now far from my old repair shop, which is the best (Santacross, in Boston).

Update: I've since found a terrific cobbler in Sharon. It's further away, but his professionalism, reliability, and quality of work...

My husband and I dropped into this shop that seemed to have such excellent reviews online. We showed the owner a pair of men’s shoes and politely asked a couple of questions re. the repair. These were met with instant rudeness to the extent that we were shocked by this extreme behavior and the unwillingness to answer even one of just a couple of questions. In fact, the owner turned away from us and refused to talk to us and do the repair. He mumbled: “Forget it, too many questions”. He acted very angry towards us for no reason whatsoever. I stated to him that we were friendly customers with reasonable questions and that I had never encountered such behavior. We then immediately left the shop. It seems extremely unlikely to us that the good reviews online are genuine reviews. We had been looking for a good shoe repair driving there from an adjacent town. This shop was just horrendous, and this experience was very unpleasant. I would discourage other potential customers from setting foot...

I am a fencing coach and a customer of this Cobbler Shop for many years. Coaching gear in sport of fencing is heavy leather. Saber fencers, especially young, beating this stuff too much and in two years you have to buy new. Oleg said: 'Don't buy! I'll fix it!' His job is real art! He is my hero! Some colleagues asking, who is doing this for me? The leather stuff I'm buying in fencing stores goes directly to Oleg in Cobbler Shop West. He makes it stronger, more reliable by his hands like cobbler many centuries ago. I moved and have my own club in New Jersey. But what I need, just to call him, explain what I want and send it to him by mail. 7 days later I'm getting my stuff back even prettier than original version! Without any doubts, I highly recommend this store for anyone. You will find what you exactly are...