The United States still has a primarily throwaway culture and has not caught on yet to the Dutch “repair café” concept or Swedish notions about a mall for recycling.
Which is why it probably took a New American to notice that there was a need.
As Isaiah Thompson reports at WGBH radio, “It isn’t entirely clear from looking through the big windows facing Dorchester Avenue, in the Field’s Corner neighborhood, what the business is.
“The only advertising is an inauspicious plastic sandwich board reading ‘Repair Service: From $30 and Under 30 Minutes, Walk-in Welcome.’
“Inside is a large, room, with electronic equipment stacked in bins along the wall and lying in piles around the floor, and a few guys hunched over cheap plastic tables. But what they’re doing is as much a fine craft as it is hi-tech.
“They’re fixing cell phones.
“These guys don’t work for Apple or Samsung, or any manufacturers. That’s the whole point.
“ ‘I’m not officially sanctioned by the manufacturer,’ explains Quang Le, who, with his friend and business partner Minh Phan, started this scrappy repair shop in 2015.
The shop, says Le, ‘exists because there’s a need, and they don’t satisfy it.’ …
“The need he’s talking about is ubiquitous: cracked smartphone screens.
“Samsung screens can cost hundreds of dollars to replace. iPhone screens can cost an Apple customer around $150. …
“ ‘When they come to my store it’s like 80 bucks … Wouldn’t you rather go to the store down the block? we do it in like five minutes!’
“Born in Vietnam, Le came to the United States as a foreign student when he was sixteen. ..
“Where most of us see broken glass, Quang saw opportunity. …
“Le realized that by teaching himself this one, super-difficult skill: separating the broken glass from working screens — he could get an edge – and make money.
“He and his partner Phan hired some friends. They bought heavy-duty glue-warming tables from China. They built a dust-proof chamber out of metal. And they taught themselves by watching Youtube videos – and by trial and error. …
“ ‘Like, we broke so many screens – like we broke probably hundreds of them, trying to do it,’ Le chuckles.” Read more here and see what ambition Le wants to tackle next.
Hat tip: The International Institute of New England, on twitter.
Photo: Isaiah Thompson/WGBH News
Quang Le has built a business doing phone repairs the tech giants would rather not bother with. 
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