Gino’s Wide Shoes & Shoe Repair

I had a very bad experience with Gino’s Shoe Repair – they are unreliable and lack customer service. Almost two weeks ago on Monday, I dropped off a pair of wedges so that the sole could be glued back on. The guy behind the counter said they would be ready on Thursday. He took down my name and phone number, and took my payment. I went to get my shoes on Friday since I couldn’t on Thursday. I was told that my shoes were not ready and to come back the next day. Since I don’t live in the area, I returned on Monday (which gave them two additional days) to get my shoes. Not only were my shoes not ready, the employee couldn’t find them. He told me that they are probably at the owner’s house getting glued still since they were having a hard time getting the glue to stick. At this point I was really annoyed that no one called me to tell me there would be a delay, resulting in me driving out there for nothing. I told the guy to call me after he talked to the owner, and when I didn’t hear back from the employee the next day, I called. Another employee who was working there at the time couldn’t find my shoes! I once again asked for a call back once he talks to the owner about my shoes. I never received a call. It wasn’t until my husband called a couple of hours later that my shoes were miraculously found but my husband was told they weren’t ready yet because they were waiting on a special glue to come in (which, as a shoe repair, shouldn’t you have these types of materials on hand? These weren’t some rare and expensive shoes – just a regular pair of wedges from Old Navy… but I digress…). Once again, NO ONE called (even after the handful of times that I asked them to call me back with an update) to tell me about the ongoing delays. It took almost 2 weeks for me to get my shoes back. The quality of the job was very poor – there was glue that seeped out the sides and dried, and the finish on the wedge part of my shoe was damaged from rubbing and the glue. This place is not worth the hassle. Their lack of organization, communication, and customer service is very unprofessional. I will not be going back here.

This place came recommended to my by my friend who brings any shoe repairs here. Got my very high quality hiking boots repaired here, they charged me $ 40 to repair both boots, which I could have gotten done cheaper elsewhere. The materials they used were very high quality, but unfortunately the stitching fell apart shortly, when I brought the boots back they didn’t have any problem with fixing it for free, and were very apologetic. I’m very happy with my boots now, if they ever need repairs again, I’m bringing them back to Gino’s.

When I drop $ 40 on a pair of Jimmy Choos to be cleaned I expect them on time & immaculate. I received neither. Showed a day after they were due. They weren’t cleaned yet, so I had to wait 10mins for a half arse rush job.
Going back to my old shoe guy who does the same quality job for half the price.

I went into their shop on a Sunday and waited and waited. When the guy finally came out he was very rude. He said that they were not open and that I should have known that based on the sign on the window. He escorted me to the door without any concern about why I came. .. or whether I would return. Apparently, he was not supposed to left the door open. How is this the fault of the customer new to the area? He lost a customer right then. I am grateful that his rudeness steered me to another shop before I received other bad service from them.

I took them some shoes no one else would repair? I got turned down by 15 top places in San Diego and they told me they could repair the shoes? I was very shocked because I took it to this place and the guy at the front counter was so sure they could fix the shoes. It was a pair of Aldo suede light grey high heels. Mind you, I’ve had these shoes for about 10 years and they’re my favorite pair. I wish I would have taken a picture because they were completely ruined. When I picked up my pair of shoes I almost fainted because they looked brand new and I’m the most Pickiest customer hands down. I do not know why they have only a couple of stars this company should have 5 stars because they do a Damm good job especially for reviving some shoes that should have been thrown away! I Love honest opinions from honest customers, if you have shoes that need to be repaired this is the place in San Diego.

So unhappy. I was charged $ 25 to lightly glue the lining on a sandal strap. I also asked for my sandals to be polished. At pickup, no polish and the glue job was shoddy. He took the sandals to reglue and polish. I came back ten minutes later. Still shoddy job. He redid it again, still no good. Definitely won’t be back.

It pains me to have to give this place one star because I’d rather give it zero. The absolute worst experience I’ve had in a long time. I brought three handbags in to be repaired. First of all, I was charged up front, so they got my money and apparently that’s all they cared about. I was told my bags would be ready in three to four days. Two weeks later, I am still waiting and after many, many attempts to communicate with them, was told that they are «waiting» on some thread to come in. As a joke, I said, «Why don’t I just go buy some thread and bring it to you?» and they seriously said okay. They literally wanted me to go buy my own thread. What kind of place is this? I had other people waiting on these and every time I’m given the run-​around, I have to pass on bad news to my customers. It has been a disaster. Finally, when I demanded that they finish my bags, they said for me to just come pick them up and take them somewhere else. DO NOT EVER use this company. They are terrible, took forever, did not complete the job, and I doubt I’ll get my money back. I wish I would have read all these reviews first.

I had not taken shoes to Gino’s for repair in a couple of years. Last week I went to the shop to have heels put on a pair of sandals, a purse stitched (¹¹⁄₂ inches of stitching) and a pair of sandals stretched. The person at the counter took the items to the back to the repair person. He said he would stitch and recondition my purse for $ 50, put heels and some kind of sole thingy on the one pair of sandals for $ 28 and stretch the other for $ 15. I said I just wanted my purse stitched, not reconditioned. He said the purse needed to be stitched in two places. The charge is $ 25. I said I only wanted the heels on my sandals. The charge for that was $ 12 and then the $ 15 to stretch the others, a total of $ 52. In checking my bank account today I discovered that they charged my card for $ 72. I just spent 15 minutes on the phone with them, mostly on hold. They are beyond disorganized. I have the tickets, which total $ 52 and the receipt for $ 72, which I obviously didn’t notice at the time. They want me to bring in my bank statement to prove that they overcharged me, even though I have the receipt. I am really concerned that after all of this they will «wreck my stuff.» Since they don’t seem to be able to get things done in a timely manner, maybe I can just retrieve my shoes and purse before they touch them.

I was hoping to find a decent place to get my Red Wings cleaned while visiting San Diego’s east county. I suppose a real job should be reserved for city boys. The joker behind the counter couldn’t find my boots, and after 20 minutes of searching, found them stuffed under the counter, untouched since I had left them there a week before. The best he could offer was «I can just clean them right now, bro!»
No thanks. After five minutes of him fumbling to give me a cash refund, I left Grossmont back at square one, resolving to wait until I returned to Portland to receive a proper job at half the price.

*Correction to my earlier review: I just noticed today this business moved to a smaller location in the same shopping center so they are NOT closed, just relocated. I’ll have to stop in their new location, around the corner from the Barnes and Noble, to check out their shoes. The selection looks small from the outside, but I only need one pair to fit, not a storefull.* 5÷11÷15
Well, this place is so long overdue for a review it is now out of business, unfortunately. While it was there it was sure a nice place to turn to for comfortable shoes. I remember one time in particular that I went in there with the intention of buying three pairs of shoes that fit well and would work for dress up– one black, one white, and one ivory, so I would have a pair to match almost any dress-​up outfit I wore. It was a great idea until I got older and gained weight and my shoe size changed so that none of them fit anymore. They were even a really good deal since they were all on sale coincidentally on the day I went in. Sigh.

I have taken 4 pairs of heels to be shortened — Charles David, Nine West and they did a great job. I have taken 2 pairs of boots also for reinforcements to the soles and those came out nicely. Not 5 stars because I have to take my tap shoes back because the screws were not right.

Upon the recommendation of her doctor my wife took her jogging (shoe) to Gino’s for an adjustment last Monday. They said it would be ready on Friday and she took a one hour trolley ride to the store and they told her to wait a couple of hours. After a couple of hours they said it was not ready and that they would deliver it to our house on Saturday.
When it didn’t come to our house I called them and they assured me that it would be delivered by 6pm. They never came. We called on Monday and they said it would be delivered that day. It never came.. On Tuesday I
drove to the store. The shoe at last was ready. But they tried to «overcharge me» for the bill! No excuses! Hands down a business not to waste your time with!!!
IF THEY’RE NOT GOING TO DELIVER THEY SHOULD SAY SO!!!

I paid to have a pair of shoes repaired and the repair only lasted a couple of times wearing the shoes. I took them back and they charged me to repair them again, lets see if they do a better job this time but I will find another shop that stands behind their repairs.

I don’t think these people should be repairing shoes at all.
I first tried Navajo Shoe Repair and the guy there told me my dirty old white-​with-​black-​rubber-​sole Converse
[stock photo] could not be repaired. I should have listened to him. For a second opinion I went to Gino’s where an employee confidently told me they could make these shoes look like new, but I had to pay $ 50 up front. Okay.
A week later, I return to see the magic and… they don’t look any better! «We shampooed them twice but we couldn’t get the stains out.» Sure they glued a new sole on over the old one, but there are globs of dried glue all over the sides. «You can just rub that off,» I’m told. Some of the glue was really bad so this employee takes it in the back and machines some of it off (damaging some of the design on the rubber in the process). Sigh. I was understandably dissatisfied and unwilling to take my shoes. The employee told me the only thing they could do was paint white over the stains. It was either that it throw them in a donation bin, so I said okay. The new sole also was not glued well (had some gaps) and had a bunch of flakey rubber along the edges that could have easily been machined smooth, but he said, «those flakes will fall off after you walk in them for a while.» He actually expected me to take my shoes and go. I would never have presented this work if I had repaired these shoes.
Week 2. Gino is there this time. He is quite the fast talker. They did not paint the shoes but instead shampooed them a couple more times. Still not very clean. Globs of glue still remain on the sides of the sole. I asked that the suede part of the shoe also receive some treatment. Gino began to give me what I need to do it myself. I asked that he, the expert, do it instead of me. Sure, but I have to wait another week because his hands are dirty.
Week 3. When I handled the shoes to examine them this time, I somehow got paint on my hand. But the shoes were never painted. Why was there paint on my shoes? Doesn’t look like the suede was treated either. But I’m done complaining and coming back every week. I got home, washed the paint off my hand, cleaned the glue blobs off the sides of the soles, filed the flakes off the edges of the soles, and inserted laces. There are still stains sadly, but I may get a bit more usage out of these shoes. While lacing, I noticed that during the repair some sort of hard resin had dripped from the new sole, across the 1 inch of rubber and onto the white shoe fabric where it hardened.
****UPDATE after wearing the shoes****
While wearing the shoes, I started to get kinda happy that they looked rather nice on my feet. None of the imperfections, damage, and sloppy repairs were noticeable looking down from my 6’2″ height. I even planned to update my review to 2 stars because I was so happy. But then I noticed a bunch of new black marks on the white parts of my shoes. Turns out Gino’s used a cheap crappy black sole that marks up everything it touches and my shoes have been touching each other. Worst shoe repair EVER!
****UPDATE: 10 months after the repair****
I wear these shoes at most 3 days a week for walking to and from the car, and this repair has already failed. The glued-​on sole has partially separated from one of the shoes where the toe bends. I have purchased a new pair of shoes for $ 30. I guess I learned my lesson: All good things just come to an end.

Zero stars! I really hate writing a bad review, but the customer service at Gino’s is terrible. It took 3 times as long to do a simple repair with only one call to ask for more time. When the time came to pick them up, no shoes. After three weeks to replace one snap, I didn’t even get a call telling me they were ready. I was happy to finally have my shoes back but won’t go back. Ever. Save yourself the aggravation and take your shoes elsewhere.

Terrible customer service! Walked in and no one was at the counter, so I rang the bell… no one came out. Waited and rang the bell again… still, no one came out. I could clearly hear silverware clinking on a plate in the back, so I called out «Hello»… still no one came out. Waited a few more minutes that them rang the bell AGAIN! A tiny little man came out from the back and stood and glared at me and in the nastiest voice he could muster, he told me to sit down and wait! Needless to say, I took my shoes and my business and went elsewhere!

This place used to be pretty good, but it seems Gino is a much better shoe repairman than he is a manager and employer. The people he has there at this store are, to put it mildly, incompetent. Here’s an example: I brought in a pair of shoes to have heel taps replaced (which Gino had originally done while I waited), and the laces replaced. The girl working behind the counter said it would take a week, and that that had «always been the standard.» This kind of lying gets me downright angry. I left, and came back when Gino was there; he promised to talk to her, and promised my shoes in a couple of days.
When I came back, Miss Incompetent was on duty again. My shoes had the heel taps, but still had the old laces installed (the new laces, for which I had already paid, were still in the package, tucked inside one of the shoes). I mentioned this to her, and she pointed out that the ticket just said «laces» for that line item. (The stupidity of that comment, when the other line item just said «heel plates,» is indescribable.)
If Gino himself is there, it’s an OK place to go. If he’s not there, run, do not walk, away.

Gino… What have I been thinking? Why did it take me so long to give you a shout out on Unilocal?!!
Gino has been taking care of my shoes since he took over this shop in 1995. I have «Never-​go-​out-​of-​style» pumps from 1993 that look like they are brand new, I still get compliments on them thanks to Gino! I tell all my friends to take their shoes there and have Gino check them out, to see if they can be saved, before they chuck them in ignorance :-) … Gino is happy to do what he can to save your shoes!

I’m satisfied with Ginos friendly and fast sevice.
He brought my old worn out shoes back to life again by giving them new soles.
Gino has a sense of humor and is always upbeat.
Recommended.

LOVE this place for shoe repair, it is always quick and painless. I walk in we look at the issue, a price and date of repair is given and off I go. Come back pick up my shoes and they are always done on time and really well.
So easy to do business with good people.
Recently they have added selling shoes too, haven’t tried any on, but if you’re in the mall you might as well stop by.