Jack's Shoe Repair — Local services in New York

Walked into this store on a Saturday afternoon -- completely empty including two old-timey shoe shine chairs which, presumably, are used to shine customers' shoes. I put my shoes on the counter and said I need to get them shined, the guy behind the counter said "ok, when do you need them by?" I said "tomorrow?" and he smirks and says "not gonna happen". I asked "why, how long would it take?" to which he replied "it doesn't matter how long it takes you can't have em by tomorrow", which is an absurd response to a would-be paying customer.

Even if my conception of how long it takes to shine shoes is way off base he could have simply pointed that out or even given me any sort of explanation at all. I may have considered waiting if he said something reasonable like "we have multiple other orders in front of yours and it takes X hours" or even "we're closed tomorrow and I don't have enough time to do it today" but after that response I just said "ok" and decided to take my business elsewhere -- perhaps to one of the myriad places in NYC where they shine your shoes in 5-10 minutes while you wait. I walked 15 minutes to get there just to try to support a local business and I can safely say I won't be making that walk again...

Jack's has saved me a bunch of money over the years.  Why replace good quality dress shoes if they can be repaired for a fraction of the cost right in the neighborhood and support local Astoria business in the meantime!  I have some decent leather dress shoes that fit perfectly and I just get them resoled for over 10+ years now with Jack's and they still look brand-new.  He has also worked his magic on new suede sneakers someone stepped on and suede-like (I'm not sure the material) military boots I asked if he could clean.  He gave an honest disclaimer on both of those non-leather occasions that he might not get them perfect, but he still did.  NYC and Astoria are expensive, but we still have in the neighborhood unique places like this where you can offset that a bit with things that are not available elsewhere.  Expert cobblers don't really exist as much in suburbia for the most part so here's our chance to offset our high costs with an artist that saves us...

Jack is the best. He's a great guy with an excellent work ethic, and he's gotten me out of many cobbler-related pickles over my years in Astoria.

Jack is direct and honest - he'll tell you what he can't fix, and he charges an extremely fair rate for all the work he does. I also love the vibe of the store - it's shoes and shoe repair equipment surrounding you. There's no extraneous stuff, or distractions - it's just what he does and what he's been doing, presumably, for decades. I cannot recommend Jack's...