The repairs
In the course of the inevitable quarantine deep clean, the PRF team has been inventorying our homes for repairs we’ve left on the back burner. Recently, we dredged out a pile of accumulated dead computers, along with a bag of variously torn wardrobe favorites that we’d planned to mend “someday.” Rather than attempt these repairs ourselves, we turned to the pros and reached out to two trusted local shops, Bridgetown Electronics Repair and Hidden Opulence Design House, for help.
The precautions
As small operations, Bridgetown and Hidden Opulence both started taking sanitation seriously early in the game, aware that sick staff could entirely shut them down. (Bridgetown, at present, is operated entirely by its owner as sole technician, while Hidden Opulence is a small team in the single digits.) In January, both businesses were sanitizing their workspaces and thinking about preventative strategies like handwashing and PPE.
Since the pandemic has taken hold, Hidden Opulence has pivoted to a fully online presence, closing all contact with the public as soon as their retail partners closed their doors. Now, folks seeking mending or alterations services can mail-in repairs or choose a no-contact pickup from a local Portland address.
Bridgetown has opted to clearly delineate areas within their store as off-limits to customers, creating a clear intake channel where items and surfaces can be sanitized at every step. As much as possible, they conduct the exchange of items outdoors on the sidewalk, with open air and greater distancing.
The logistics
For the laptops, we contacted Bridgetown to set up a curbside dropoff time at the storefront on SE Division. We were able to maintain social distancing outside the store while having a chat about our repair goals (memory retrieval from hard drives and, if possible, a revival of the most recently dead machine). Later that day, we received a detailed text from Bridgetown about what was possible for our machines, along with a quoted price and estimated timeline.
For our clothing repairs, we scheduled a pick-up through Hidden Opulence’s website, filled out an order form with our information and details on the desired mends, and set the items on our porch in a paper bag. Once they were retrieved, we received a text confirmation and, a few days later, an email indicating that our items were officially in the repair queue.
The missions
Both clothing and electronics are inarguably essential elements of our day-to-day lives, and yet present-day consumption of both can be problematic, ethically and environmentally. From their inception, both Bridgetown and Hidden Opulence have sought sustainable ground beyond the turn-and-burn paradigms of their respective industries, and the pandemic hasn’t changed that.
“We are a business that assists the equation of providing sustainable options to our clients whether that is production or repair,” says Drea Johnson, creator and head seamstress of Hidden Opulence. “I’m really fortunate that we’ve been able to pivot and stay afloat in this time because I know it’s not the case for others. It humbles me to know that clothing is something we will always need, whether we’d like to repair it or find something that is new to serve us. I think it’s safe to say sewing is a necessary skill society should keep near and dear.”
Adrian Avery-Johnson, owner of Bridgetown Electronics, said at first he was trying to project where his business would be into the future, and then realized that during such uncertainty, these projections are futile. “I’m viewing it more like steering a boat on a lake. You set your sights on your destination and when the wind changes, maybe you have to go in a different direction for a little while, but you always keep moving towards your destination,” he says. “My destination has and always will be keeping devices out of the landfill, protecting the members of my community from predatory business practices, and freeing all of the information that I come across where it’s responsible and legal to do so.”
The helpers
While times are unquestionably difficult for all business owners, Bridgetown and Hidden Opulence both say they have glimpsed moments of bolstering humanity.
At Bridgetown, a customer paid an extra $100 on top of their phone repair to put toward the next person’s total. As it happened, the next client was an out of work bartender whose $40 total was brought to zero, and the remaining $60 was divided between three additional repairs. “That one customer that overpaid facilitated the repair of four other devices for people in need,” says Avery-Johnson. “It’s hard to know where we’re going to end up as a country and a species, but seeing acts of kindness like that on a regular basis certainly makes it easier to picture a slightly less bleak outcome.”
Meanwhile, Hidden Opulence says it is “magical” to see many factories convert to producing medical PPE. They themselves produced approximately 200 masks for a local business, and are offering a free mask with all orders.
The takeaway
Shelter-in-place has dealt a damaging blow to relationships that once thrived through personal contact. “As head seamstress, it’s hard not to continue having that intimate, face to face contact,” says Drea Johnson. “I feel our business is really heavy in relationship building with our clients so it’s been hard to have to put that on pause fully.”
Yet, new and surprising ways of supporting businesses we value are cropping up, and the networks we’ve invested in building over the years, in many cases, are flexing to hold us. Bridgetown says they are referring many repairs out to the trusted repair partners they’ve made over the years – televisions to A1 TV and Electronics Repair, or audio receivers to Inner Sound, for example – and have been receiving many referrals in return.
For individuals in a globalized world, it is comforting to know that as our day-to-day spheres have dramatically dwindled, many of the skills required to keep our lives running smoothly can be found in our own communities. Seeking local solutions to our needs, now more than ever before, keeps our local network flexible and strong and increases all of our ability to hold and be held, today and into whatever tomorrow comes next.