UBREAKIFIX celebrates its grand opening in Sarnia - July 9/19 (Blackburnnews.com photo by Josh Boyce)UBREAKIFIX celebrates its grand opening in Sarnia - July 9/19 (Blackburnnews.com photo by Josh Boyce)
Sarnia

Chamber encouraged by arrival of new entrepreneurs

The Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce says it's encouraging to see new businesses setting up shop in town.

President Shirley de Silva was at the grand opening of UBREAKIFIX on Tuesday morning.

The walk-in electronics repair company occupies space in the back portion of the newly constructed building at the London Road Shopping Centre.

de Silva is thrilled to welcome entrepreneur Luke Faria and his business.

"At the chamber, we're looking at what I would describe as a slow renewal taking place," said de Silva. "More and more, we're seeing more new entrepreneurs and younger entrepreneurs with an interest in developing and opening businesses or products and services around town. I think that's great, and exactly what Sarnia needs."

UBREAKIFIX has over 500 stores across North America and specializes in the repair of cell phones, tablets and gaming consoles. It has partnerships with Google, Samsung, and LG.

Corporate Trainer Ian Leonard said they're happy to fill a growing need in the area.

"People are carrying around a device that's worth over $2,000 in their pocket, it's made of glass, it's fragile," said Leonard. "They're designed to be light and portable, not extremely robust. Getting that back and operational again is so critical. People have so much of their lives tied to personal devices that when their device shuts down, their life shuts down. We're able to get them back on the road again within two hours with an exceptional quality level."

Leonard said they've repaired an average of six devices each day since opening a couple of weeks ago.

"It's almost like we're finally giving water to starving people," he said. "The response we've been getting is pretty overwhelming. We've been talking to a number of different carriers, and they're just so excited to have a branded, quality repair centre in the city that's fully supported by manufacturers."

The new store has two full-time employees and is looking to hire more in the future.

There are still a few retail spaces left in the new 17,000 square foot building in the centre of the plaza. The Goodwill Careers Centre occupies about 7,000 square feet.

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