End of DIY Shoe Repairs

[TheCustomer]

Yes fully aware of Price Survey , but have you got a Shoezone outside selling Mens Shoes for a Tenner !. and Ladies for £8 Customers still say "thats expensive " we we ask £4 for Ladies Heels or £6 for Gents , and our prices include VAT as well ! . We are in a Poor part of Birmingham , Shopping centre is now half empty ( or half full depends how you look at it ! ) , just lost Woolies, Rosebys, Officers Club , HPI Jewellers, Shoe Express, Adma , and now the Tote Close at the end of the month . Just have to be gratefull for wht we get

 

I hate Shoe Zone. We too have one near us. Yep we get how can you charge £16 for sole and Heel and they sell shoes for a tenner Makes my blood boil.

 

Reality is what it is, and things have just gone the way they have, I can't deny that but it seems to me that the whole shoe 'Game' is all geared up wrong. It was not that many years ago that every working man could afford to wear the sort of shoes that you guys like to repair, all leather, stitched etc. I have no statistics to go on but it stands to reason that on very low wages these working men (doing tough jobs walking on dodgy roads at the time) could afford to have their shoes repaired without too much worry. As it would have been much cheaper than buying new shoes back then, right?

As late as the sixties, average people could afford to get themselves a suit made as well.

 

So what’s gone wrong? An example:

I bought some £65 m&s boots, all leather apart from the heel at the end of November. I swear that I have not used the shoes anymore than twice a week just walking around London. In just 9-11 uses the heels are already worn down and clipping the heel block and I weigh only about 11 stone. Now compare that to my running shoes i have had for over 2 years which have done probably over a thousand miles and still going. I don't know if I walk funny or something but I seem to knock out the heels on quality shoes very quickly or there is something else at play here..

Now consider Mr. T as you call him, in most of the southern block of UK he seems to be charging about £15 for a so called hard wearing heel. I have been using these for years and they only appear to last twice as long as the standard heel on the m&s shoe I describe, mainly because they are thicker, as they don’t seem to be made of harder wearing material from what I can tell. So lets say 25-30 uses at best (a good day of trotting around and getting on and off of trains etc).

Now, years ago it was either the case that shoe soles and heels lasted a lot longer than above or they were much cheaper for the average person to pay for. Because, in an era of no cars when people walked a lot more, the average joe would simply not be able to pay for shoe to be reheeled every 25-30 uses, unless of course it was dirt cheap.

 

The life cycle of the shoes described above is probably not affordable to many so, I can see why they buy some £10-20 shoes from ShoeZone and then run them into the ground, as from their perspective they may wear them 3 times a week and get 9 months use out of them, over 120 uses for that price.

 

OK they don’t look as good as my shoes and might start looking crap around the heel towards end but it’s an affordable solution. I am all for buying quality shoes and getting them repaired in fact I have been known to rant about it in the pub before. The way I buy and use/get shoes repaired give's me great looking shoes which last a very long time but does not look the like most economical way of keeping oneself in footwear in today’s market.

smmultiservices, I can understand your perspective completely in offering such competitive pricing.

 

Harry.

 

P.S. Before anyone asks, Yes I am trying out some non Mr.T heels from an independent repairer at the moment, initial results are good so we will have to see .

[keithm]

Keith waits with interest for the flood of replies \:D/

 

C'mon guy's , you kow you want to \:D/

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

Fashion plays a big part in shoe pricing.

Take for example Stilettos, when they came back on the fashion market they were very expensive as a Ladies Shoe/Boot costing £60-£100+, as the demand grew so did the manufacturing capability and supply, to the extent that you now have shoes being retailed at £8 or therabouts.

This lasts for a few years then the style changes again, this time drastically so that the owners of the Stilettos would not be seen in the wardrobe full of shoes that they have built up. And so the story begins all over again. What is happening now has happened before and those who were around previously and watched the trends know all about it. Presently you will be running wuth the cheap shoes for a while longer than I had at first thought.

[jimlondon]

We are not trying to compete with Shoezone and the like , just trying to earn a living ,after all we are in the mending buisness not the retailing side.

We get lots of customers who buy "cheap" shoes and pop stright round to have Metals on stilletoes, Grip Soles on Shiny plastic Boots , and 1/4 tips on mens heels etc.

Not everyone can afford £100 shoes where we are , most are either on benifits or the minimum wage . the Customers we get that do buy these type of Shoes come from the better off areas afew miles away and often travel the few extra miles using the free bus pass to come to us to get them Heeled .

It is ok if your only competition is a Multiple , when you are trying to trade with other independants , often in low rent locations , close to the city centre or Key Cutters that offer this as an "add on" to the main buisness ( often Hardware or General Store) then it is a different matter .

We keep our trade by offering a quick efficient service , reasonably priced and using good quialty materials , the shop has been here 25 yrs serving many genreations of the same families.

Seem to have gone a little off my original topic , hopefully someone will lead us back that way

 

This is exactly the point I make under the Blakeys and Quartertips postings. Without wanting to argue it's not about what we want or like. It's about the customers' preferences. Some of you have said you'd never promote Blakeys or quartertips because you don't like them personally. Well, read above, that's what happens if you offer them. My business is actually on an increase due to responding to the needs and wishes and of actively marketing products people want - i have them right in full view.

[Guest blakeyguy]

It seems the Blakeys could be a good add on sale, and the customer doesn't know you do them, if you don't put them out there on display, or ask them if they are interested,etc. Are younger people using them now?

[kobblers]

 

Smells of vested interest around here

 

Rick.

[hibsjo(SCO)]

blakeyguy you want to send out some free samples ill take some

carry on!

[TheCustomer]

Its interesting to see how this thread has shaped up since 2009. Back then it seemed a recession, but now the real wave has hit.

 

There is a guy on ebay called ecobbler (ecobbler.com) who seems to be doing a full range of home repair kits, sos, heels etc. His products are the trade items that you guys use, rather than those crappy shiny black heels you get with the glue included.

A simple search on ebay for sole and Heels shows he is not the only one.

 

Ebay and Amazon are not the freak show they used to be. Its mainstream now with plenty of 17 year old mothers of three, running their own ebay businesses.

The amount of 'industrial grade' shoe repair material available in retail quantities on Ebay tells me a lot more people are doing their own shoes, and it can only be to save money.

 

So why point this out and what’s the good news for shoe repairers?

For a long time I have thought the Multiple's as you put it, focus on the quality end of the market and are way too expensive for the average joe to get his shoes repaired. Perhaps you can convert the convertible..

Never mind Shoezone......I went into TKmaxx, in high rent, expensive central london the other day and got some full leather, fully leather lined (down to the toe) shoes for £39.99. There are plenty like this always available for £49.99 at the moment.

A famous multiple we all know is charging £35 for the very basic sos + heel round here.

 

I found a little guy in Holborn (equally expensive rents) who is only charging £11 for a normal heel or £12.50 for a top topy heel. which seems to be comfortably in line with your Price Survey. I think it was 22-24 for both sole and heel.

 

My point being, could there be a golden opportunity to cash in with advertising like "why buy new shoes when you can get them repaired for £17.50" (or £25 depending where you are in the country)

Basic words, to the point. you get the idea..

 

Multiple prices at the lower end of the market are too expensive for sure. As a customer I instinctively feel it and by reading this forum I know it.

Multiple supermarkets are usually cheaper and put corner shops out of business, so why is the reverse true in this business?

 

Also I want to say I hadn't really appreciated it years back, but, what a damn good business model any multi- service repair business is, and what a safe haven in a global depression, if you gear it right . I was kind of thinking the other day, hey why don’t you advertise to repair all kinds of other stuff, but that’s out of my depth and you guys know best how far you can stretch it.

good luck, really.

 

Harry

[Tom D]

to be honest £6 for a mans heel far to cheap im in the most depressed part of the northeast & i get £8.50 your far to cheap yes people complain about it my retort is take them to a branch of timpsons.had a customer in yesterday soled her boots £7.99 she told me her daughter worked in canary wharf took them there they wanted £34.99 so whos to cheap its always the case knowing what to charge .there was a legenary key cutter in gateshead all keys £1,00 had a queue all day never made any proffit though ALL KEYS assas rukos chubbs .the standard reply when you told customers £3.50 for a yale key "but it only £1.00 in gateshead" well f--k off to gateshead it will cost you £3.00 on the bus .you cant please all the people all the time.and when they say "how much " proves your charging the right price

[TheCustomer]

to be honest £6 for a mans heel far to cheap im in the most depressed part of the northeast & i get £8.50 your far to cheap yes people complain about it my retort is take them to a branch of timpsons.had a customer in yesterday soled her boots £7.99 she told me her daughter worked in canary wharf took them there they wanted £34.99 so whos to cheap its always the case knowing what to charge .there was a legenary key cutter in gateshead all keys £1,00 had a queue all day never made any proffit though ALL KEYS assas rukos chubbs .the standard reply when you told customers £3.50 for a yale key "but it only £1.00 in gateshead" well f--k off to gateshead it will cost you £3.00 on the bus .you cant please all the people all the time.and when they say "how much " proves your charging the right price

 

Tom, do timpsons charge same in the northwest as down here?

 

I think they are charging £16 for heels now. Although their strategy seems to be to steer people towards those hippo sole things. so the effective customer price after the initial outlay is £16 for sole and heel combined, each time you get the shoe reheeled. I managed to knock out the toe on one of those soles in just a week, rendering a replacement, so at best they are just average in my view.

 

I recon independents could trump that deal by advertising something similar with a quality sos and probably charge slightly more.

from what I understand they are replacing the sole with most reheels anyway.

[Stanley Mishap]

D'yknow I totally sympathise with sm multi - for 20 years I was in a city centre up against an Asian shoe shop next to me selling ladies black court stilettos for about 4 quid a pair - and a locksmith around the corner who made his money from call outs and lock fitting and subsequently had no interest in key cutting so only charged £1.00 a cylinder key and £2.00 ANY mortice key.

 

Don't get me wrong - for 20 years it was tough , but I made good money - even though I had to charge stupid prices !

 

8 years ago I moved 10 miles up the road to a more affluent town - I now charge fair and realistic prices ... And to be honest I haven't looked back.

 

Obviously not everyone can move their business - but for me , I wish I had done it years before I finally did.

[Gray]

I'm sure Andy would have agreed with you. Sadly he left us a couple of years back.....

[Stanley Mishap]

Sincerest aologies for not realising his passing ... But the sentiment of my post is still the same .... I really do feel for repairers who work in a hard , depressed area ...try telling some nutter his car key is gonna cost £60.00 when he will probably pull you over the counter !

I've even had 10 year olds bringing in house keys their mums had cut (slyly taken off key rings) just so they can have a few quid refund 'cos mum said I had to have money back - it don't work !'

Once again ... Genuine sympathy .

[Lee]

I'm sure Andy would have agreed with you. Sadly he left us a couple of years back.....

 

But at least he had a good story to tell at the pearly gates. I miss him you know.