Tomas Shoe & Key Service - 1978
Tomas Sko & Nyckelservice started in 1978 and is located in Sollentuna Centrum, a mall in the middle of Sollentuna.
It was Tomas father who started the business, as a shoemaker and cobbler. As a young boy Tomas followed his father to watch him work. Already at 12 years of age, he enjoyed the work his father did and the profession as a whole. He started to help his father with minor jobs and cleaning around the shop. As he grew older he started to learn the craftsmanship from his father and eventually joined him in the business. "It felt natural to take over the business after my father", Tomas says. "It was here I enjoyed working". As a family company, the shop conveys a sense of authenticity and genuine passion for the work being done.
Tomas tells us how the best thing about his work is to hand over a finished repair work to customers. "I love the wow factor of my work", Tomas says. "To present the repaired shoes for the customers and seeing their shock at how the work turned out, it is defiantly a highlight". He explains that it is very satisfying to perform and deliver a job well done.
Tomas' first contact with Crockett & Jones shoes was from customers bringing them in for repairs, and he really liked the high quality he saw. These were shoes made with care, worth repairing. Feeling like this was shoes he could stand behind and sell he contacted Mikael in 2009. So they set up a meeting where Mikael will come and look at his shop.
But unfortunately Mikael, at the first try, traveled to the wrong mall and saw the wrong store. The one he went to was only a hole in the wall work shop and he thought to himself that this was an impossible place to sell shoes. Luckily they worked out the misunderstanding and on the second trip Mikael got to the right shop and felt it was a good fit for Crockett & Jones.
From that moment they have had a good working relationship and friendship. Tomas also talks fondly about a time in Nacka, when he and Mikael together drew the plans and layout for the very shop he is in today.
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What Tomas thought was one of the best things about starting to work with Hammargruppen was that you could order a small amount of shoes. This meant that even if you had a smaller shop you could sell shoes without a huge stock. As he started to order shoes from Hammargruppen regularly he also saw that we sold other products such as Saphir. He bought a few to try them out and thought it was of the same high quality as Crockett & Jones. "It was important that I tried the product myself first", Tomas explains. "I never buy something to sell in my shop without having tried it myself first". 
When asked what his best shoe care advice is, he says it is of great importance to clean and polish your shoes regularly. Explaining that spending only a few minutes to take away dirt from your shoes before they dry helps to prolong the lifetime of your shoes. "Also very important to use shoe trees", he adds. "It shows very clearly on all shoes if you do not use shoe trees".
Toma's favorite model from Crockett & Jones is Alex. "It is simple and good looking, works with many different outfits and for many different occasions", he says. But it is far from the most sold shoe in his store. He explains that he sells many different models since his customers range greatly in age. He says that the younger generally want the simpler designs, like Alex, while the older customers tend to lean more towards shoes with brouge.
Want to learn more about Tomas and his shop? Visit their store in Sollentuna or his website listed below!
GREAT INFORMATION
Tomas Shoe & Key Service
Sollentuna Centre
Sollentunavägen 163
191 47 Sollentuna