While-you-wait shoe repairs: bookable slots and walk-ins

Offer a short list of quick repairs as while-you-wait appointments, on set times of the day, and leave the rest of the hours for walk-ins and bench work. A client who books a heel tip at 12:30 knows their shoes will be ready before lunch ends, and you know when to stop the long job in progress. Walk-ins are still welcome; they just get served around the booked slots instead of interrupting you at random.

Not every job can be done while the client waits. A good while-you-wait repair is short, predictable, and doesn't need glue to cure overnight. Anything that depends on the state of the shoe once opened up, or on drying time, belongs in the drop-off queue.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. You open slots for each service at the length it takes; clients pick a service, then a free slot. Keep the list short and precise: "Heel tips, women's stiletto" tells the client whether it's for them better than "small repairs".

Say in the description what the client should bring and do: clean shoes, and arrive on time since the next slot follows. If a heel turns out to be damaged beyond a tip, you'll offer a drop-off instead.

A while-you-wait repair is only quick if everything is at hand. Check the morning's bookings and their notes, put the right heel tips, thread colours and stretching blocks next to the machine, and finish the bench job you're on a few minutes before the slot starts. Give the waiting client somewhere to sit and, if you can, a pair of slippers: someone standing in socks at the counter makes a short job feel long. With calendar sync (Google, iPhone, Mac), the day's slots are on your phone, so you can see the next one coming from the back of the workshop.

A booked slot takes priority. When a walk-in arrives during a booked slot, give them a time later in the day, or take the shoes in as a drop-off. When a walk-in arrives in a gap, serve them straight away. If you want the walk-in to have a fixed time, create a slot and book them in yourself from your calendar: first and last name are required, email and phone optional. With one place, a booked slot is full and disappears from your page, so no one else can take it.

The public booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note you read in your new-booking email. Ask for the type of shoe and the repair: "leather ankle boots, heel tips worn to the wood". It lets you check you have the right size of tips before the client arrives. The note can't be edited after booking, so put the question in the service description.

Sometimes the heel block is split, or the sole is coming away. Explain it, quote the larger repair, and offer a drop-off. The while-you-wait slot has done its job: the client came in at a time that suited both of you, and left with a clear answer.

Clients can't move bookings online: they contact you, you reschedule or cancel from your bookings list and let them know, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book doesn't take payments or deposits; it handles appointments. It costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.