A swarm of Apple gadgets with cracked screens, dead buttons, and lost data is leaving repair desks at the tech giant's slick retail stores-- and moving toward upstart shops like "Dr. Brendan's Mac Repair" which offer lower-cost repairs in New York City, the New York Post reports.
The chain has quickly grown into three stores since the first opened last fall with additions in Brooklyn and Greenwich, Conn., and has plans for several more New York-area stores in the coming year.
“Business in the East Village (section of New York) is already 300 percent of what it was in January,” says 30-year-old Brendan McElroy, who opened his first storefront on St. Marks Place last fall.
One of his clients is 33-year-old Perri Gorman who, in addition to getting her iPhone 4 repaired, recently paid to switch the body to a lime-green color with a bright pink home button totaling a cost of $160
“People are constantly stopping me on the street asking ‘Where did you get that?’” Gorman says.
McElroy built a reputation last year in his neighborhood by repairing iPhones out of his fifth-floor apartment--- a side gig he developed after fixing his own iPhone with parts he bought off eBay.
“I had as many as 20 to 30 customers a day coming into my living room,” McElroy told The Post, noting he had lured clients with flyers and ads on Craigslist. “The other tenants weren’t too crazy about that.”
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