At this shop in Delhi, you can score a pair of bespoke shoes for a pittance!

Shoe shopping can be an expensive affair. And investing in good quality leather shoes, even more so. But what if we told you that you could flaunt a fabulous pair (you’d mostly find expats wearing) for rock-bottom prices at a neatly tucked away shop in Delhi’s Moti Bagh?

Sitting pretty in Basrurkar Market is Om Boot House, a small shop started by a family of cobblers that prides itself in making bespoke shoes — leather, suede, rexine and more — and the range starts at ₹500. They specialise in making the best of hand-crafted shoes for an international clientele — expats and employees at various embassies. You, too, can choose from a variety of designs displayed in the shop or show them a branded design that is on your wishlist, and they’d custom make it for you in just about a fortnight.

The shop had a humble start in 1955, when Mata Deen sat as a cobbler in the area. As word got out, his work got him many loyal customers. Soon, he was able to set shop. Later, in 1970, his brother-in-law Bhollu Ram took charge of the shop. This was the time when Moti Bagh transformed into the residential space it is today. Bhollu Ram, who runs the shop even now, supervises craftsmen. “Teen peedhiyo se chal rahi hai yeh dukaan. Aisa samajh lo, jab se Moti Bagh aabaad hua tha tab se hum yaha hain. Humaare yaha pehle jo aate the, ab unke bacche aur pote bhi aate hai (We’ve been running the shop for three generations. You could say, that we’ve been around from the time when Moti Bagh first came into existence. Our clients have remained consistent, and families who got it made from us back then still drop by) ,” says Bhollu Ram. He also explains that while business has been on the low since the advent of online shopping, the expat clientele that the shop had originally has stayed consistent.

Besides diplomats, hotels employees and government officials, are also some of their regular buyers. “Pakistan Embassy kaafi bada client hai humaara, wahan word of mouth se hamara kaam kafi badha hai aur jo bhi official India mein aatey hain, hamare shoes zaroor pehnte hain. Par embassy waalon ke alawa, hum hotel waalon ke liye bhi joote banate hai. Humaare joote Ashoka aur Maurya hotels ke log bhi pehente hain. Sabse zyada sale par custom-made jooto ki hai, log design dikhaate hai aur hum waisa unhe bana ke de dete hai ( The Pakistan Embassy is one of our biggest embassy clients, and we make shoes for various other embassies too. We make shoes for the employees of various hotels such as The Ashoka and ITC Maurya, but we get our most sale from the custom shoes we do for walk-in buyers. They get us cutouts or pictures of the designs they want, and we replicate the design for them),” he says.

Since they specialise in hand-crafted custom shoes, every part of the shoe can be chosen by the customer here, and that is what determines the final price. You can choose between colours, types of leather, types of sole, detailing, and style, and rest assured that you’d own something which is one of a kind. So, the next time you spot a beautiful pair of shoes (and can’t really splurge on them) head to this shop, and they’d make them for you on a shoe-string budget.

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