The shoes my husband wears to work look the same as the ones he wears on weekends, in the rain, and to go outside to get the newspapers at 6 a.m.

Oh … wait a minute … they are all the same! It’s true. He has five pairs of the exact same style and brand of shoe – three pairs of black and two pairs of brown tassel slip-ons. The only variations in his shoe collection are his Crocs, Tevas, and hiking boots.

Why he chooses to wear white socks with his Tevas and his hiking boots out to dinner, well, I have to pick my battles!

The good news is that his complacency with his never-changing selection of shoes allows me to indulge in my desire to seasonally change my shoe choices to match the weather, the occasion, the day of the week – you know where I am going with this!

Here’s an interesting side note: Apparently, cedar shoe trees (my husband owns five pairs) are a rare commodity. It is quite possible that they may appreciate in value faster than our savings or our home in Arizona!

To that point, I have decided to put the shoe trees in our last will and testament to pass down to our children, unless of course they auction them off for cash on eBay first!

My husband buys Allen Edmonds shoes, keeps them for a long time (10-plus years) and takes very good care of them. Hence the need for a reliable, reasonably priced, professional, friendly and convenient shoe repair shop.

Bailey’s Shoe Repair fits the bill perfectly!

At first glance, Bailey’s Shoe Repair in Kirkland seems to be owned by Bella, a 9 pound, 6 ounce Yorkshire Terrier whose snout you will probably see sticking out from under the front counter’s half-door. Come to find out, however, it is actually owned by Kendra and Randy Bailey.

Both Bella and Kendra run the front of the shop while Randy and their son, Ben, are hard at work in the back repairing shoes, belts, purses, etc. Daughter Alyssa will hopefully return to work when she is ready after having given birth a year ago to a beautiful baby girl, Khloe Harper.

Kendra and Randy were kind enough to spend three hours talking with me and giving me a tour of their workshop. Bailey’s Shoe Repair has been in business for 32 years – 28 of those years at Kirkland Parkplace and since 2008 happily relocating to a strip mall on the south side of 85th Avenue and 122nd Street.

They have the most loyal customers from all over western Washington, Idaho, Montana, etc., returning year after year to take advantage of Randy’s expertise.

Randy learned the trade from his grandfather in Oregon and has been a master cobbler, fine-tuning his craft for the past 35 years. He is very passionate about his work, a perfectionist for sure, and stays current with the latest shoe fashions, materials used, and how to care for them.

He uses shoe repair machines purchased from Holland, makes his own dyes, will actually go down to his supplier in Seattle to handpick prime leather and rubber pieces he uses for his tips and Seattle (zip) soles. He will shine your shoes in five minutes while you wait, fillet your soles to insert orthopedic lifts and match red rubber rain soles to your favorite Christian Louboutin red-soled pumps!

Randy’s philosophy is, “You are only as good as the last shoe you fixed.” He clearly does not rest on his laurels!

When you need to bring your shoes back to life by a truly dedicated artisan who will always listen to your specific requests, go to Bailey’s.

They are open 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays for a well-deserved family day. They can be reached at 425-827-6145.

Kirkland resident Victoria Martin welcomes reader feedback at martin.victoria917@gmail.com.