Felix Shoe Repair

Felix Shoe Repair is a cobbler shop in Harvard Square in Cambridge that repairs shoes, zippers and leather goods. Its owner, Christos Soillis, has been described in the local press as Cambridge’s resident cobbler, and a Cambridge Chronicle profile said that if business owners charged for honesty and generosity of spirit, he would rank among the wealthiest people around. The shop’s own listing promises that visitors are never disappointed when they come in.

Soillis began learning the trade at age 11 in a small village in northern Greece, where his family was poor. He started in the Harvard Square shop in 1963 as an assistant working in the basement, when Harvard’s then all-male student body dressed in coats, ties and fedoras. By the time of the 2020 profile, written by Susanne Beck for the Cambridge Chronicle, he was 87 and had been cobbling locally for almost 60 years.

What to Know

• Felix Shoe Repair was established in 1913.
• After 94 years, the business describes its current shop as a return home to Harvard Square.
• Soillis told the Chronicle that having money in his pocket and owning his home is all he needs.