Quick Cobbler

Brought my 2 month old Redwings work boots here to have toe guard applied. When I picked them up immediately I wasn’t impressed with the work. They over sanded the toe because they didn’t take the time to mask off the area to be protected. The toe guard wasn’t applied evenly either. Some spots were thick and other parts I could see the leather. I decided to overlook the poor work and take my boots home.
Not 2 weeks went by before the toe guard started to peel off, revealing underneath that the boot wasn’t even sanded (the toe guard product needs a rough surface to adhere to)!
Brought them back dropped them off early Friday for pick up Monday afternoon. Monday I find out they’re not ready only 1 thin layer had been applied they say they apply 3. I ask for my boots to be dropped off at my home in the evening. Wednesday they call and explain they can’t courier my boots in the evening but they can send them Canada post, I told them no I’ll just come pick them up. When I see my boots this time the toe guard maybe has another coating but as I check out another customers boots actually identical Redwings boots, his toe guard looks as it should. The person I picked up my boots from did apologize for the work he agreed to be poor, refund my money and give me a small jar of toe guard so that I can just do it proper myself.
I feel the management is disconnected from its customers but lucky to have staff that are apologetic. They need to seriously work on the quality control! I won’t be bringing any of my other boots here that’s for dam sure. Getting my money back and some product is probably the best experience I can hope to have here.
If it lets me add a photo I’ll include one of how they finally turned out. Oh yeah they also offered to put mink oil on my boots, I said please just clean the leather and I’ll oil them myself, well they also didn’t clean the boots!

These guys are so good I save all my repair problems and bring them from Ontario to Vancouver each time I come out here!!! This time I wasn‘t sure they could save two of my favourite old pairs of shoes but they came through! Prices are very reasonable. Keep up the good work guys!!!

My shoes are ruined… I brought in 2 pairs of shoes. One had peeling issues near the toes while the other pair had an obvious heel problem and needed to be replaced. Somehow they had mixed up the order and added a heel to the wrong pair. They returned both my shoes leaving the one with an obvious heel problem, untouched. They added a heel to my flats which was not requested at all and ended up completely ruining the fit and comfort I originally had. I can no longer wear my flats because of their mistake.
Ronald,
I actually have been back twice to address the issue. So no, I don’t plan on making an additional trip back for another attempt to resolve the problem.

Have been bringing my shoes and boots there for years, they always do a great job. Not the cheapest or the fastest but always professional and satisfied. Well worth the money.

Love this place. Used to go to it when I lived in the West End (ages ago), and was delighted to rediscover it.
Their cheeky sign (When it comes to leather and rubber, we dominate!) makes me smile every time I walk by.
Quality work. They know what they’re doing. Sometimes they get really busy and it takes longer than I would like… but I don’t mind because they do the job properly.
When your shoes need some rescuing, THIS is where you should take ‘em.

I needed some leather cleaner and conditioner for my car seats and my Blundstone boots.
I was driving past this place and seen the sign saying something like, «When it comes to leather, we dominate.» I knew that’s the place I needed.
I stopped in and explained wha I was in need of and the gentleman explained to me my different great options.
I walked out with conditioner for my boots, cleaner, and conditioning wipes for my car.
I’ll be back when I need more :)

They are fantastic!!! very professional and charge reasonably. Thanks for bringing my sandals to life!!!

This is my new shoe savior! Drop in with a strap fault on new shoes, they fixed them almost on the spot! Meaning I get to wear them out tonight rather than wait a week. Great work great customer service. I’ll definitely be back.

So yeah, not usually quick, but professional and reliable. What do I mean by professional? Well, I’m comparing to the now defunct shoe repair shop on E. Hastings where the lecherous old guy was chain smoking amid piles of old shoes no one had touched for decades… yeah, Quick Cobbler is not like that; it’s clean, modern, organized.
Reliable, insofar as the work is always done when promised and more or less as promised to a standard I would have to say is always satisfactory. Sometimes small errors (one set of heel replacements were higher, I think, than the original) but mistakes happen anywhere. Only robots are perfect.
Because it’s a big operation it has a bit of a production-​line feel to it (they don’t know you from Adam from one visit to the next), but it’s not that they’re not friendly or that they don’t care; there seems to be enough genuine interest in your shoes that one can, er, bond with the employees over them if one is so inclined as they do intake. And once intake is done, your shoes are not tossed on a pile with all the others, but put in a box for safe passage through the process. Nice, that.
For my son they once rushed a turnaround time because he was leaving town, which was appreciated.
Yet I’m wavering between 4 and 5 stars. I think those slightly-​too-​high heel replacements are nagging at me, and I would have liked to have the old heels shown to me when I picked the shoes up so that I could have better evaluated the job. That said, it was my second set of heel replacements, the first set having been a custom job in stacked leather done entirely to my satisfaction. In both cases, shoes I liked that had been manufactured with stupid spindly heels that looked dumb and were dangerous can now be worn with confidence and comfort. At about $ 100 per job, if the shoes are purchased economically (eg used) the total shoe price remains within sanity range.
Parking can be a pain during rush hour restrictions (usually available up Yukon though) and I wouldn’t mind if they stayed open a titch later in the day. Open Mondays, though; thank you for that!

Loved this place. Very organized, knowledgeable staff and most of all they fixed my new boots that my dog chewed up!

I’ve been dealing with these folks for 20 + years. Their work is good, but customer service has become terrible. I arrived today, by cab, to pick up boots at the time when they said the work would be done. «It’s going to be fifteen minutes,» they said. I dismissed the cab. Twenty minutes went by, and I asked them to call a cab. «No public phones,» someone yelled. Due to a medical condition, I cannot walk more than a block or two. I — who has spent hundred of dollar in their shop was treated as if I was a nuisance. The arrogance was astounding. I won’t be back\ anytime soon

Two old pairs of Blundstones both sprang leaks this winter. I thought I was going to have to consign them to the garbage but a quick search uncovered this place, offering a re-​soling service.
I took both pairs in and was offered two different options. Both Vibram soles. One heavy duty, that would alter the appearance of the boots around the seam, but offered a more robust seal and a stronger fix. The other, more cosmetically appealing but with a risk of failure. I opted for one of each.
The price was in line with what I expected, and significantly less than new boots. The work was done within the promised time — I don’t care about quick if they do the job right and when they say they will.
After wearing both pairs a few times, in rainy weather, I can safely say I’m pretty pleased with the results. It feels like the new soles will now probably outlast the uppers!

My original review was deleted so I’ll say again that my first-​hand experience with this place has been: high prices, long wait times, good quality work, awful customer service. Thanks.

Original review: (2 stars) «I have had decent experiences here but I also brought in a pair of boots that they did nearly $ 200 worth of repairs on (new soles, new heel bottoms, some stitching) and they fell apart pretty much immediately. I don’t spend a lot of money on shoes and I opt to have work done instead, but this last experience has convinced me to look elsewhere.»
since then, the owner Ron emailed me and has offered to help me out with the boots. good guy.

My mom is a big fan of these guys (they’re on the route to/​from her old workplace). So when I’ve needed shoes fixed, she’s told me to go to them.
The man who owns the place and his son are nice people and genuinely try to help. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out – I’ve had a couple less than stellar «fixes», but they will try. They’re also honest when there is not much they can do, and they didn’t charge me if they couldn’t fix it.
Bonus: They polished my paddock boots for no charge (which were covered in mud and horse youknowwhat).

The end result is great and I will go back, but unfortunately the word «quick» should not be in the name of the business. I understand that good quality jobs take time, but 1 week for 3 pairs of new shoes to be re-​soled seems a little long. Again, I will go back, but make sure to not assume they can do things in a day or two.

I agree this place was better when it was on Denman. In those days, you dealt with professionals when you went there. Old world craftsmen, some of them. When they moved to the current location, things went down hill. First, there was a girl behind the counter with a ring through her lip whose job it was to frown at customers, and scold them for wearing down their soles too much. A few years later I took some badly worn that had black scuffs on them from rubbing against the feet of my office chair. The woman behind the counter said «Look, I don’t know what YOU did to them, but we did our best.
If they ran it the way it was run on Denman, it would be at least 4.5 stars. And as far as «Ron» saying he doesn’t want to kiss another reviewer’s a**? Sorry, the quality of your operation doesn’t support that type of attitude, and your low ratings prove it. You want better ratings? Focus on service.

Me, «I destroyed these leather boots while traveling. I had no idea Kenneth Cole products were not designed for mountainous middle eastern countries. Please, help my boots.»
Shoe-​man, «These are pretty bad. What are your expectations?»
Me, «To make them look less gross. Do magic shoe-​man stuff to them.»
Shoe-​man, «Well, I could polish them for about $ 20. Or for the same price, you could buy the brushes and I could show you how to do it yourself.»
Me, «I love you shoe-​man.»

As a result of the owner of Quick Cobbler commenting on my original review of 3 stars (which I don’t see as such a big deal — my review was honest and on average, the Quick Cobbler gets 3 stars which is very accurate), I am now downgrading to 1 star. This does not demonstrate the age old saying of the «customer is always right» and definitely tells the story as to why I initially indicated that the customer service wasn’t great.
I would also like to mention that I have never worn my boots in salty conditions, in the mud or in the snow. Rain at times, yes — this is Vancouver, you can’t avoid it. These boots have been waterproofed several times. Another thing I would like to mention is that I take care of EVERYTHING I own. If any of you know me personally, you can attest to the fact that nothing I own looks like it’s been neglected.
When I got my boots back, they had polished them with the wrong colour shoe polish, so they ended up looking even more stained than when I initially brought them in. I asked them if they could reverse that, so they tried on one part of my right boot, it ended up looking worse, so I asked them to put the wrong colour polish back on rather than fighting with them over something that clearly couldn’t be fixed without injuring my beloved vintage Frye boots even more.
Here is the owner comment posted to my original review (cut and paste, no editing):
«You know,
these boots are, as you admitted, 15+ years old. You also admitted to never have taken care of them. No polish, no conditioner, no waterproofer. They are a light tan leather. Since you have severely abused them (rain, salt, snow, mud what have you) for 15+ years, we both agreed they still look pretty good. Although severely stained. And eventhough you wanted a refresher, you had us reapply and then remove the polish we applied in a futile attempt to make them look better. Then, after all that work, you said, and also repeated above, you kinda like the severely worn look…
We, one of my employees and myself, spent nearly 25 minutes, AFTER HOURS, trying to satisfy your wishes with these boots. I don’t think you knew what you wanted…
Eventhough I really like shoes and shoe repair, Quick Cobbler is a business, not a hobby of mine. In your case we did not make money on the repair, since we wasted a lot of time trying to please you and make your old boots look just the way you wanted: the way they looked when they came in…
So after all this effort, work, craftsmensjhip, time, talking, explaining and not making any money we only get 3 stars???
Would I go through all this trouble for you again? Maybe.
Do we serve you cappuchino, lick your boots clean and kiss your … next time to get 5 stars?
Maybe not!
Ron.
Owner, Quick Cobbler Ltd.»
Yikes.

Oh, I wish you were quick, cobbler. Oh, I wish you cobbled as well as your cute little hammer sign promised. Oh, you would have been a solid 5 stars in 2009. Oh, how you have worn over the years.
Oh dear.
Vintage shoe loving girls like me need a gentle sole (I know, I know) to handle our preciously perfect leather kicks. Busy high heel lovers like me require an expeditious return on our broken slippers, lovers of all things from an age that we never lived in crave a place where the human behind the counter will care as much about our cherished 1970s mule as (if not more than) we do.
But you don’t. You will do your job. In a two-​week time period. And the leather won’t match. But it’ll hold.
Oh dear.