Fix-it shops see resurgence

Alex Romanov - unlike many others - has found a robust financial wave to ride in these troubled times. “Business has really gone up in the past few months,” says Mr. Romanov, a cobbler who has a store in Cleveland and an online business at www.americanheeler.com. “It’s doubled since last year.”

To Wendy Liebmann, chief executive of Manhattan-based WSL Strategic Retail, Mr. Romanov’s success makes total sense.

“I definitely see a growing market for fixing and repairing,” says Ms. Liebmann, whose company gives manufacturers and retailers advice on business opportunities.

“As customers’ value sense becomes more and more acute, some of the options we’ve discarded through the years [such as repairing things] are being reinstituted,” Ms. Liebmann says.

Her company even has gone so far as to recommend that department and big-box stores reintroduce old-fashioned in-store repair centers.

“You need to think of anything and everything to get people through your doors,” Ms. Liebmann says.

William Peter Field II has no problem getting people through the doors of his custom tailor shop, Field English Custom Tailors, in Georgetown.

“I have a steady stream of customers,” says Mr. Field, who took over the business from his father in 2004. (It has been in the family since 1968.) “I have work lined up [for] at least one month.”

Mr. Field, who also tailor-makes suits for up to $3,000 each, is particularly busy with alterations, which can range in price from $30 to $300.

“I get a lot of suits that have ‘shrunk in the closet’ over the past year,” he says.

Another example of the rise in interest in fixing and repairing can be seen at JustAnswer.com, a Web site that provides online users with expert answers in areas ranging from taxes to electronics.

Edward Davis of New Albany, Ind., is an electronics expert who has seen a steep increase lately in questions on how to fix electronics.

“Sometimes I get as many as 100 questions a day,” says Mr. Davis, who has about 55 years of experience repairing electronics. “A few years ago, I was lucky if I got 15 questions a day.”

The experts are paid $9 and up per question, but a company spokeswoman says visitors pay only if they are satisfied with the answer.

Most of the questions Mr. Davis gets are about television repair. Customers describe a problem, and Mr. Davis and his colleagues help diagnose the problem and then recommend options for repair or, depending on the situation, suggest buying a new set.

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