10/15/11 Greenwich Apple Guru Upstart Prospers As A New Fast Growing Business Chain

PHOTO: Gadget fixer Brendan McElroy is building a brand by doing iPhone repairs that the “Genius Bar” at Apple stores won’t usually do

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" in Byram the New York Post reports.

The chain has quickly grown into three stores since the first opened last fall with additions in Brooklyn and the Byram section of Greenwich, Conn., and has plans for several more New York-area stores in the coming year.

iRepair iPhones

Apple guru beats geniuses at the bar

By JAMES COVERT

Clients include 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. (Total cost: $160).

“People are constantly stopping me on the street asking ‘Where did you get that?’” Gorman says.

Last year, McElroy had built a neighborhood reputation by repairing iPhones out of his fifth-floor apartment -- a side gig he developed after repairing 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.”

The St. Marks shop -- whose exposed-brick walls and sleek counter-tops evoke Apple’s cool aesthetic -- is already expanding into a second storefront across the street to help meet the expected 100 percent growth McElroy is forecasting, an increasing share of which is coming from business customers.

“We all own and love Apple products, and I think they offer a fair policy of backing up their product,” McElroy says, brushing off the notion that he’s a competitor. “When it comes to out-of-warranty repairs, Apple has to draw the line somewhere.”

Nevertheless, some clients say they came to McElroy’s store partly out of frustration with the service at Apple’s “Genius Bar.” Confronted with cracked screens and dead home buttons, techies at the Genius Bar frequently suggest buying a new gadget rather than replacing it.

“With the Genius Bar, you have to wait and wait for an appointment and they’re never on time,” gripes Victoria Phillips, a 31-year-old writer. “It’s a pain in the ass.”

McElroy -- who, less than three years ago, was still tending bar in Hell’s Kitchen -- says he’s angling to open as many as 20 stores across five states in the next two years, with New Jersey and California locations likely.

The growth will be mostly self-funded, according to McElroy, though he’s also in talks with regional partners.