Weak Economy May Be Bonanza for Repair Shops : Services: Some shops already are noticing that more people are fixing broken items instead of buying new ones.
They are not rooting for a recession, but many Southern California menders and fixers see opportunities in the economic gloom as budget-conscious consumers turn to them in growing numbers when a high heel gives way, the microwave melts down or the VCR chokes on the “Wizard of Oz.”
“Last year I would take off on Friday afternoon,” said Charlie Mavaro, owner of George’s Appliance Repair in Temple City. “Now I’m working six days a week.”
Repair shop operators said that, during hard times in the past, more people spent money on repairing broken belongings, instead of buying replacements. Not all are certain that business will increase, but many--from shoe cobblers to computer technicians--already report a surge.
“It’s been especially good in the last two or three months,” said John Lewis, who opened his Los Angeles repair shop, Rainbow TV & VCR, nearly 30 years ago. “I give people an estimate, and they say, ‘For another $100 I can buy a new one.’ Then I hear a little hesitation. Then they say, ‘Go ahead and do it.’ ”
An increase in repairs has offset a drop in sales of new products, said Jerry Springer of D & H Vacuum & Appliance in Orange. “We have noticed that repair volumes are more than usual; we’ve got a hundred VCRs in right now. A recession, as far as our business goes, is a plus.”
At American Micro Repair in Riverside, owner Ray Rose has noticed that computer owners are willing to pay more for repairs than in the past, when they were prone to junk old equipment for new.
“If repairs were half the cost of a new computer, they would go ahead and buy a new one,” said Rose. Now “they go ahead and get it fixed.”
At a recent seminar in Los Angeles, David M. Ashton, managing director of the National Assn. of Service Dealers, a trade group for those in the repair field, noted that 16 of the 17 business people in the seminar said their sales were up from last year.
Still, Ashton said he is not sure that the increases are a result of a weaker economy. “If people don’t have the money to buy a new product, they will probably get something fixed,” he said. “But I don’t know if there are any hard facts to substantiate” that relationship.
Ashton also notes that fall is normally a busy time for the repair industry. “People come in from outside activities and start fixing ranges and dishwashers.”
For many household goods, buying new can still be cheaper than repairing the old.
Vahid Bashash, owner of Rose Upholstery in Los Angeles, said business is up from last year but not as a result of recession-wary consumers. “When you want to do upholstery here, you are talking about $700 or $800 for a love seat and sofa. People can buy a new love seat and sofa for $400.”
Frank Conte, a Northridge tailor, said he keeps busy altering new clothes, not old favorites. “Most of the work I do is new, stuff you bought at a wholesale (shop) where they don’t do alterations.”
Peter Paek, owner of the Professional Camera Clinic in Los Angeles, said a weaker economy does not drive shutterbugs to repair broken cameras. Instead, his customers use their cameras less because “people don’t go on vacation or take trips.”
Still, based on past experience, many in the repair trade expect business to go nowhere but up.
“Some of the best weeks we ever had were in the early ‘80s,” which were recession years, Lewis said. “Whenever there is a downturn, my business gets red-hot.”
“I know a lot of these older shoe repairmen made their money in the Depression” of the 1930s, said Jack Harb of the Cobbler’s Bench in Costa Mesa, which is repairing 150 pairs of shoes a week, compared to 100 a year ago.
At George’s Appliance Repair, Mavaro said he can tell what shape the economy is in by comparing his revenue from repairs to sales of appliances.
With repairs accounting for 80% of his revenue versus 50% a year ago, Mavaro’s view of the economy is: “It’s in pretty bad shape.”
