N Judah Business Review: Sunset Shoe Repair on Irving Street!

So there I was on Friday, heading out for a 5:30 cocktail party at Alfred’s Steakhouse downtown, a gathering of all sorts of local folks, internet rockstars Melissa and Beth and tv talk show host Art Bruzzone among others. But as I was getting ready to leave I noticed that my leather shoes had this weird white powdery stain on them. WTF? My normally fine looking dress shoes were looking hobo-esque. Now what?
As I was walking down Irving to catch the N downtown, I remembered that Sunset Shoe Repair was right there on Irving, so I walked over there hoping they were still open. It was 4:58pm and they close at 5pm on Friday. Not wanting to be a jerk customer I asked if it was ok to get a quick shoeshine, and the guy said yes. He not only polished my shoes and made them look new, he also explained to me what the stains were – salt stains. Because I’d worn them a lot during our rainy period and let them dry in the closet, salt residue built up on the outside.
This was awesome. Not only was I able to go to the event without hobo shoes, I learned something new about shoe care as well. How cool is that?
This morning as I recovered from last night’s rock star partying, I was talking to someone in the neighborhood and they too had an awesome “save the day” story about Sunset Shoe Repair. Heck, as I googled around for some info, I found this this story about how great the service is here.
This is the kind of local business you really want to promote – it’s a great business providing great service. Plus, it’s giving folks out here something they actually need instead of Yet Another Nail Salon or Yet Another Cutesy Annoying Expensive Clothing Store, or Yet Another Lame Restaurant.
So the next time you need a shoe shine or a shoe repair you know where to go!
621 Irving Street
(between 7th Ave & 8th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122
PS: The awesome service here was a nice antidote to a rather typical Friday on the N going downtown. We stalled several times at the tunnel at Duboce, and then crawled at a snail’s pace through once we actually got IN the tunnel. It was so slow, I decided to get out at Powell and walk to Kearny and Merchant instead of getting off at Montgomery like I’d planned.
But I eventually got there and talked to all sorts of good folks, including Luke and Elaine of Fog City Journal, Ben over at SF Weekly’s blog and many more. It was fun, and on the way home later that night I capped things off with a quick drink at the Blackthorn. What a Friday.