When the Shoe Fits, But Needs a Fix
Sarah E. Needleman, Wall Street Journal  Last year, women
purchased 728.8 million pairs of shoes in the U.S., and men purchased 327.4
million pairs, according to market research company NPD Group. Even with all
that footwear out there, shoe-repair shops are becoming increasingly rare.
Stepping up are a number of online cobblers, who accept and return footwear by
mail.
There are just 7,000 shoe-repair businesses left in the U.S. today, down from
more than 120,000 during the 1930s, according to the Shoe Service Institute of
America, a trade group. Many cobblers now have Web sites where consumers
can select from a wide range of services—from basic repairs to major
refurbishments—and place orders, complete with printable prepaid postage
labels. A few even offer to send shipping materials to consumers.
 
Tom Pell holds a photograph taken around 1955 of his father's first shoe repair
shop in Spring Lake, Mich.
More photos and interactive graphics We tested four shoe-repair businesses that
agreed to do the latter: Resole America, American Heelers Inc., NuShoe Inc. and
Great Lakes Shoe & Orthopedic Service. Shipping materials arrived from
each company within six days, and we filled them with four different types of
worn-out shoes. In most cases, we ordered basic repair work—a new set of full
heels and soles—and some of the services included standard extras, such as
polishing, cleaning and waterproofing.
Overall, our shoes came back not looking new, but in much better shape than
they were before. The downside: A longer turnaround time and heftier fees than
what we'd expect from doing business in person with a local cobbler.
At Resole America's site, Resole.com, we found simple instructions on how to
place an order and request a mail bag. The Web site listed shoe styles and
brands, with services we could purchase, such as to have old insoles replaced
with new ones. For example, we could order resoling for a pair of
Birkenstocks—sandals with a cork sole—for $35.
We placed a $70 order to get full soles and heels for a pair of worn-out leather
cowboy boots. We were also charged $15 for shipping to a location east of the
Mississippi River. For addresses west of the Mississippi River, the shipping is
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$20.
Resole America sent us an email letting us know our order had been processed
and that an oversized envelope and billing form were on the way. The boots
came back looking shinier and in better overall condition than before—and within
the eight-to-10-business-day turnaround promised by the company.
John Bradley, president of Warrenton, Va.-based Resole America, tells us the
company was launched in 1997 and has 15 employees, including nine cobblers
and four customer-service representatives. Resole America repairs roughly
25,000 pairs of shoes annually, he says, and customers can drop off their
footwear in person to avoid shipping fees.
We also checked out AmericanHeelers.com and found easy-to-follow instructions
on how to request shipping materials and make a purchase. Shipping is free, the
site says, and the order form features prices, photos and service descriptions.
Since we weren't sure what was needed to salvage a pair of badly worn-out
leather pumps, we chose "craftsman decides" for a to-be-determined price tag.
We received a confirmation email after placing our order.
When our mailing envelope arrived, we also found a card saying we'd get
another email with billing information once the company received our shoes. In
that email was a bill for $44.99 and instructions to pay through Paypal.com, the
money-transfer site or with a credit card by phone.
American Heelers sent back our pumps within the five to seven business days
that its Web site promises. They were vastly improved, with a new set of full
heels and soles, plus they'd been shined, cleaned, waterproofed and
conditioned. Best yet, the leather—previously cracked and flimsy—was tightly
refastened to the heels and soles.
Ilya Romanov, president of American Heelers, says he launched the company in
2007 to take online orders for his father's 20-plus-year-old cobbler shop, Chagrin
Shoe Repair in Woodmere, Ohio. He declines to comment on the volume of
business but says orders for orthopedic work are the most common.
In our NuShoe.com test, we found simple instructions for requesting a
postage-paid mail bag but no option to place an order online. Instead, we could
print out an order form and mail it in with our shoes or wait to receive a glossy,
color brochure featuring detailed service descriptions, prices and photos along
with the mail bag we'd requested.
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We sent NuShoe a pair of worn-out women's dress shoes with a 3/8-inch heel.
On the order form, we selected "Ladies Ultra" for $60, which includes a new set
of full leather heel covers and soles, polish, refinishing and conditioning. We then
cut out the customer receipt that let us know we could track our order online.
Less than a week later, NuShoe sent us an email informing us that our shoes
and payment information had been received and that it would take two to three
weeks to get our footwear back. However, we ended up waiting nearly four
weeks, which Eric Neuner, president of the San Diego-based company, says can
sometimes happen to customers who order from long distances like the Jersey
City, N.J., address we provided. He also noted that the company repairs about
2,000 shoes a week and has 60 employees.
NuShoe otherwise delivered on its promises by sending us back shoes in far
better condition than what we'd sent in. The company gave us a few extras as
well, including new cushioning inserts, a small container of black polish and
laces. We also received another mail bag and order form in case we wanted to
place a second order.
Last, we visited GreatLakesShoeRepair.com, which didn't have an order form,
prices or details about the kind of services we could purchase. Instead it featured
instructions to call or email owner Tom Pell to place an order. Mr. Pell responded
within 24 hours to our email requesting shipping materials for a pair of faded
leather men's dress shoes with flimsy, worn soles. He noted that a large
envelope was on its way but didn't ask what we needed done or detailing the
price or wait time. But we shipped the shoes anyway, without specifying the
services we wanted.
Less than two weeks after we shipped our shoes to him, we received our shoes
back from Mr. Pell with a handwritten note requesting a check for $60 by mail as
payment. We were satisfied with their new sets of full heels and soles and fresh
coat of polish.
Mr. Pell says he's a sole proprietor who operates his business part-time from a
workshop behind his home in Pentwater, Mich. He trusts customers to follow
through with payments, though he admits he's gotten burned a few times. He
adds that his prices include shipping costs, which vary according to
postal-service rates.
Mr. Pell says he learned shoe repair from his father, who owned a cobbler shop
that is no longer in business. If customers don't describe what they need done
when placing an order, he says he'll contact them to ask. But in our case he
didn't because he says he misplaced the email we sent him with our contact
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information. He says he went with his instincts on what needed to be done, which
was a standard repair job.
Generated on 5/29/2013 4:19:36 AM, by iNews Publisher, Expinion.net