my yelp review: Rinaldi's

Rinaldi's Park Square
Category: Shoe Repair
Neighborhood: Back Bay
31 Saint James Ave Ste 550
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 426-6480
4 star rating
11/1/2009

I wouldn't have ventured into the Park Square Building, past the manned security desk, if Camper hadn't sent me. The old Boston building had pretentious gilded scrollwork and friezes inside the double height lobby and along the first floor concourse that creeped me out. Or maybe the strange mix of shops reminded me slightly of Harry Potter's Diagon Alley for wizarding supplies, where you hoped you could remember how to get out before some mischievous young wizard tried out their new wand on you. The quarter-sized blister on my left heel had just healed from this fall's debut of my Camper Spirals 46098-002, and I wanted someone to stretch the culprit (the left boot) to prevent a long torturous wearing in period. I am a firm believer in not suffering for fashion.

With a name like Rinaldi's, you walk in to the teeny shop wanting to love the place, and I can safely say that I did, although my simple request might not have been much of a test. I presented the woman behind the counter with my plainly beautiful brown leather left boot. She held it respectfully, for which I was grateful, since that one boot cost me about $106, and that was only after I'd gone back to Camper's a week later to get the price reduction. I wanted to tell her the whole story behind buying them (because there's always a story, isn't there?): how I had plunked down my hard-earned cash after a long search for boots that fit my narrow calves, and my love of rubber soles, and that I had considered them perfect until my first blister last winter, which I'd completely forgotten about until putting them on last week. But luckily for her, I didn't.

A man whom I'll presume was Mr. Rinaldi came up some stairs from a lower level workshop, and made a few expert observations: that he would only stretch the heel leather a little bit since it would stretch eventually with normal wear; that it would fit better now if I just put in thinner insoles (which I didn't want to do); that he could do it for $10, which I gathered was $5 off the regular price. Maybe because it was only one boot?

I've worn the boots once since and am completely happy with Rinaldi's work. The left heel now fits perfectly. Unfortunately, this correction has highlighted the fact that the right toebox is a little narrow, even though it's rounded, leaving my poor fourth toe chafed and close to blistered. I will have to test the boots a few more times to decide if I need to have the right one stretched. If I do, I know where to go.