Old Orchard Shoe & Luggage Repair

1. Shoes were not ready when promised.
2. Owner failed to complete the work as promised.
3. Owner promised me that I would be reimbursed the full amount paid but only reimbursed for half the price paid.
Don’t waste your time!

Great place. Owner and his wife are very nice people. Knows a lot about shoes and will answer all questions. Great same day service as well. Had my shoes polished and applied plastic protection along heel and toe and job was well done. Will come back again

Ray saved the day when my grandma’s wake was same day and I needed my boots to be sparkling shiny. I’ll tell everyone I know to come here!

Absolutely the worst job I’ve ever seen. After having a good experience with the tailor located in the same building, I decided to give this place a try. I brought in my reversible belt which after two years of abusive wear started to split. I decided that instead of paying $ 80 to have sent back to ferragamo I would instead take it to a leather repair guy that would do the same for less than $ 20 bucks. Thats when I found this place and it being in a nice mall I didn’t hesitate to trust that the job would be done well. I left the belt with the guy, he said he needed a few days to make sure it dries right and looks nice, so of course for a job well done what’s a couple of days. I came back Monday morning to get my belt and brought a pair of shoes with me to get stretched. I was about to hand him my shoes when he came back out and handed me the belt, or what now looked like a 1^st grade arts and crafts project. It was as if Ray Charles and Stevie wonder both worked on it together. The belt was covered in glue and completely not aligned, smudged and dirty. Just an absolute mess.
The only good part was that after seeing his own work, he decided not to take any money for it and wanted to do it over and that was a nice gesture. I then peeled the belt apart and now will try to find a much better leather repair shop using Unilocal.
Maybe that place is much better with shoes rather than leather goods.

I mistakenly ignored these poor Unilocal reviews after hearing a rave review of this place from my boyfriend’s mother. Mind you, I live in Lincoln Park, so this is quite the hike. I took my boots there about two months ago to get them polished, reheeled, and to have some elastic sewn in the back (they are two big on my calves and slouch around my ankles, I wanted something to hold them upright). I bring them in, request all this, and pay him $ 45 in advance. «No big,» I think to myself, «that seems like a lot of work done for $ 45.»
Two weeks later, I come to pick up the boots. I find that, even though I have already paid for the service, there is NO ELASTIC. He claims he has coated the leather with something or other so they will stand upright. Okay, I said, I’ll try it out. The work is otherwise just fine — boots are shined, heels are fixed.
Two hours into wearing them, they are already falling down. I call him back immediately, and he says sure, I can bring them back any time, he will put the elastic in for free. I am annoyed, but I give him another shot.
When I bring the boots back, he tries to charge me for the elastic AGAIN, as well as trying to upsell me on all this other stuff I don’t need. Finally, I fork over another $ 5 to shut him up and to purchase some guards for the bottom of the heels. He tells me they will be done Thursday, elastic and all.
The Tuesday after that Thursday, I haul myself all the way out to Old Orchard one last time to find MY BOOTS ARE NOT DONE. No call to say they would be late, nothing. He offers to weatherproof them for free to make up for it. Fine. He promises to call once he has completed them.
Two weeks later, it is suddenly the dead of winter and I am really wishing I had my boots, so I call him to see what the hold up is. Turns out, they’ve been done for a week and he just never bothered to call. So I haul myself out to Old Orchard one last time to pick up my boots, they finally have some elastic and free weatherproofing, and he will not be receiving my business anymore.
TL;DR — Kind of overpriced, EXTREMELY unreliable, and not really worth tolerating all his upselling for the mediocre work he does. Go somewhere else if you can.

decent place to get the shoes done
fair price– havent really checked too other places.
having resoled shoes is generally a good practice, but i always feel let down when i get it back, because… i guess its the same shoe…
they did a great job, my shoes look new.

Recently had the strap to my K. Cole briefcase repaired. Honestly I think I could have done a better job myself. Instead of taking the strap apart and applying a new piece of leather, he just stitched right through the strap with a needle the size of a screwdriver.
Now my strap has a cheap piece of suede that looks like a 3^rd grader cut out with safety-​scissors affixed to the bottom, and the top is riddled with holes and nicks.
He did a nice job shining my shoes, but I wouldn’t let him do anything else, especially involving high-​end luggage or handbags.

I use to go here a lot to get my heels fixed. They use to charge $ 8. I understand the economy has changed, but the couple that runs the place really needs to communicate about their prices. The husband tells me $ 10, but his wife comes along and wants to charge me $ 15! This isn’t the first time either! The cobbler is a really nice guy, but the wife… scary and mean. Be aware! She’ll try to charge you more. He did a decent job with the heels.