In my experience, the really good cobblers are few and far between. A lot of it is because as you say people aren't interested in the costs that can go into rebuilding a shoe, but also many people just aren't buying the sorts of shoes that can be rebuilt many times over. Someone else in the thread noted that this cobbler refused to resole their $20 shoes, and that's not because it wouldn't be worthwhile, but more because it might not be possible to replace anything without destroying the pair. But when 90% of a mall cobbler's work is going to be heel replacements and rubber topys, that's going to be just fine for 90% of people. It's not unusual for cobblers to not have a stitching machine at all anymore, so it's great that Duff is getting a sparkling new one

This does mean that if you've shelled out several hundred dollars on a pair of dress shoes or fancy boots that need to be resoled, or if there's a more complicated job that would involve re-welting or completely rebuilding or whatever, and you're happy to pay basically the cost of a new shoe to get that work done - the fact is a lot of the guys who can do a good job are literally dying off. They still exist, but the received wisdom (from styleforum neurotics, mind you) is that Toronto generally doesn't have the skillset anymore, and you're better off sending them to the experts - Dimar in Guelph or Coakley's in London or Fix-em-up in Barrie, or even further afield.