INWOOD — Rather than buying new gear for holiday gifts, a pop-up shop is fixing up the old.
Uptown residents Sandra Goldmark and Michael Banta have reopened Pop-Up Repair at 93 Cooper St. and will be fixing broken chairs, iPhones, lamps and other items through Dec. 14.
Pop-Up Repair's new temporary Inwood home is a nook at Upstart, an art gallery that opened in the neighborhood on Saturday.
Banta said that the repair team was invited by gallery owner Diane Ninos. And while lamps were the main item brought in last summer, clothing has been more popular this time.
"People have said, "It's so great that you're back, we've kept all this stuff for you to fix,'" Banta said.
Pop-Up Repair, dubbed an "experiment in sustainability" by it's creators, made headlines in June when it launched a one-month residency on Broadway near Isham Street. Goldmark and Banta were able to open the shop after raising more than $9,000 on Indiegogo to cover the cost of renting the storefront.
Since closing on Broadway, the all-volunteer fix-it team has been crunching the numbers from their experiment, the experience of which they plan to use in a research paper and for speaking presentations.
In addition to fixing broken items, Pop-Up Repair is offering to make gloves smartphone-friendly by sewing conductive fabric onto the fingers.
Banta said that the group will probably look into opening another pop-up shop in Morningside Heights or Brooklyn after the Inwood store closes.
"Part of it is seeing if the community's excited about it," Banta said.
Pop-Up Repair will be open on Dec. 12 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Dec. 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information visit popuprepair.com
