I had bought some running shoes for a brief hope at yearly "Resolution to do more exercise" that always fails me. Not long after I started wearing them daily, the sole of the shoe started separating from the heel. Lucky for me, shoe fix it shops are everywhere and are really cheap. Most of them are called Kudu Byeongwon (Literally) "Shoe Hospitals" and can be found on almost any side street.
"Hospitals" are extremely small steel cargo shipping containers, or perhaps converted metal barns of a kind with sliding glass doors and some seats inside. Usually they owner and operators are disabled, physically or mentally. You can always see the "Shoe doctors" sweating out the summers with their sliding doors open. In winter their doors are shut to keep the boxes warm with gas heaters. The fumes give me headaches because the places are poorly ventilated. I don’t know how they can stand it. My job isn’t burning rubber things and adhering things with strong adhesives in a small space all day, but perhaps those sorts of fumes kill your nose (or brain) fast enough that you don’t mind.
The shoe hospitals are usually located near apartments or near department stores. Since the service takes anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour, you drop off the shoes and tell them what you’d like to have done. They repair the items while you shop, then when you are ready to go home you pick them back up and pay.
My wife dropped of my shoes at one of the closest Shoe Hospitals at a nearby apartment. It’s staffed by a man with an electric wheelchair. She had actually forgotten to bring money with her, and wanted to run back and get the 1000 won (~$1 USD) that it would cost to do the repair. The kind old man said, "Oh, it’s no big deal, just drop off the money the next time you come by. It’s okay! Just go home!"
Wow! Kindness from a complete stranger involving money?! This was entirely unexpected.
My wife had an obligation that prevented her from returning with the money right away. She wrote a note to the man, then sent me off with my newly repaired shoes, some mandarins, and the money. I came to the store, I popped my head in the sliding door, said, "Thank you!" and pointed to my shoes. I handed him the small bundle of items I had been for him, and he grinned and laughed a lot. He was a very cheery person. All of the people that I’ve met in these little shoe repair boxes are very honest hard working people. They’ll tell you when they can or can’t do something, and all the work they’ve done has been of exceptional quality, extremely cheap, and fast.
My wife had some high heels recut and lowered for 3,000 won (~3$ USD), and we’ve gotten all sorts of other minor repairs done. Some places will even shine your shoes, then deliver them to your office for you in the back of an autobike (scooter). "Shoe doctors" hopped up on glue fumes flying through the streets on fast moving autobikes . Now that’s service.
