Toronto Cobblers

[slaxer]

As posted in another thread I need a bunch of shoes resoled. I originally did not want to make the trip to Toronto as I live roughly an hour out of the city, but I have not found anything close to home.

I have searched the forums for recommended cobblers in T.O. and have come up with a couple that have been mentioned.

Novelty Shoe repair seems to come up a lot, with mostly positive reviews. The one -ve I found was that the member did not take their Florsheim's there to repair for some reason after talking with the owner, now I have two pairs of old Florsheim's to resole and this is a problem for me.

There has been mention of a cobbler at yonge and eg, and one in the manulife centre but nothing too detailed on quality of work, or the names of the places.

There also is mention of a cobber "Village Cobbler" on Bloor west and the pics of the antiquing appear very well done.

Can anyone recommend me one of the above as being head and shoulders above the rest? I am leaning towards Novelty as they appear to be the most recommended but the Florsheim thing is slightly bothering me.

 

[kasper007]

Don't know much about Toronto cobblers, but given the long drive, perhaps it be better to send to B Nelson, add a lot in shipping fees, but i've found that the added expense is really worth it (depending on what shoes you need resoled). I'm from Montreal and this is what i do

 

[Marcellionheart]

Novelty are alright. He can't do a lot of the stuff I'd like and often gets edge dressing on the leather of my shoes. It usually polishes out, but not always. They have good supplies, though, and right now have shoe trees on sale for $25.

Roy's Shoe Bar in the manulife centre is pretty good. They reheel things fine, but don't have the range of polishes, so try to insist on no/neutral polish otherwise your shoes might end up a little lighter than you thought. I'm to the point now, though, where I'm just going to post stuff to BNelson as well.

 

[ClassyCanuck]

Have you tried these guys?
http://www.nickscustomboots.com/index.html

I took my Blundstones in to get re-heeled, they did a great job albeit with Blundstones.

 

[gj555]

If you need several pair resoled, why don't you take one pair in and see how that goes first?

My experience with Novelty was fine on one pair, and not so good on another.

 

[slaxer]

Thanks Classy, I think that I'm going to try Nick's boots, I'll drop off one pair and see what they do.


One of the pairs that I have to be resoled are a pair of Florsheim ankle boots I was given because they have a very tall heel on them (a la sarkozy). The previous owner was short and didn't mind them I on the other hand am not short and would like to have reduced. Is that possible/easy for a cobbler to accomplish.

 

[Marcellionheart]

When you do go, make sure to make a full report!

 

[slaxer]

I ended up going with village cobber on bloor west after all.

I sent in a pair of santoni captoes for a full sole. When I learn to transfer from my phone I'll post the pics of the after, I don't have any before's.

One question, on the new sole that I have on the shoes, it appears to have a wood heel raiser as they missed some of the paint? on the exposed edges, is that normal?

 

[Mimosa]

Originally Posted by slaxer

I ended up going with village cobber on bloor west after all.

I sent in a pair of santoni captoes for a full sole. When I learn to transfer from my phone I'll post the pics of the after, I don't have any before's.

One question, on the new sole that I have on the shoes, it appears to have a wood heel raiser as they missed some of the paint? on the exposed edges, is that normal?

I was searching for Toronto cobblers and I found this thread. Any chance you can give us a report on how the shoes came out? What is the name of the shoe repair on Bloor W?

Thanks,

Mim

 

[ajmanouk]

A little off topic but I'd just like to say that I went to Novelty shoe repair yesterday to get some inserts for my Park Avenues. The service there was impeccable; the guy who was helping me knew exactly what he was talking about and was really cool to talk with. They had some nice supplies too which are hard to come by in Canada. I'll definitely be going back when I need to.!

 

[MyOtherLife]

I would like to see photos of the Florsheims you need done. Please photo the sole as well.

 

[ryewo[i dmfsOZI490w]

Just in case anyone does a search for Novelty Shoes, I have an unpleasant experience to share.

I went in and there was this really talkative black guy that seemed to own the store, and I asked if they had dark brown Kiwi shoe polish. He said he didn't, but he has something that can work wonders, and everyone's satisfied with it. Personally I don't like people who do a whole lot of talking and not a lot of listening, I feel they're just trying to sell you a product and not satisfy your needs.

He gave me Collonil product that is basically some kind of conditioner, which I only realized when I got home. I already have the AE Shoe Polish which is a conditioner, and I wanted some polish to put a bit of a shine on my shoes, so this was not a product for me.

I checked the receipt, and it had nothing about a return policy, so I called. The first guy said that he doesn't make the decisions, and put me on to the same guy who I bought it from. He said that no, they don't accept any product returns of unopened products, and no one has ever complained, which is hard to believe.

I've got to say that's probably the only store I've come across in Toronto that doesn't accept returns, and I'm never going to purchase anything from there again.

 

[itbegins]

E shoe polish/conditioner products are rebranded Collonil. Polish can have conditioner in it, but polish != conditioner. You should be using both, conditioner more often than polish.

 

[LEVOOSH]

Anyone have any more experience with Nick's Custom Boots - going to be taking in a few pairs for re-heel and possible full re-sole.

Would appreciate any feeback.

 

[TBSDSpaniard]

Found a new cobbler today in Maple want to bring to the SF community;

SOLE PERFECTION in Maple
soleperfectionshoerepair.ca