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Pop-Up Repair Service Coming to Gowanus

 Pop Up Repair, a drop-off fix-it service, will set up temporarily in Gowanus at Film Biz Recycling.
Pop-Up Repair Service Coming to Gowanus
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GOWANUS — That broken lamp lurking in the back of your closet could soon get a second chance to shine.

Pop-Up Repair, a traveling fix-it business, will set up shop in Gowanus this month.

The service mends busted appliances, electronics, toys, furniture, and other household items. Fees range from as little as $7 to refurbish a piece of broken jewelry, up to roughly $150 to revamp a chair.

Pop-Up Repair was launched last year by theater set designer Sandra Goldmark and her husband, Michael Banta, a theater production manager. They're both handy with tools and comfortable working with a variety of materials and objects, and their jack-of-all-trade skills translate well in the world of household repair, Goldmark said.

Customers have given the repair service a warm reception, especially because old-fashioned appliance fix-it shops have all but disappeared from city streets, Goldmark said.

"They're shocked and surprised," Goldmark said of her clients. "That's one of the things that's funny, but a little bit sad. We've reached a stage in our society where it's shocking to find a place that fixes your everyday stuff, because it’s so rare."

The service's first temporary home was in an Inwood storefront, and Pop-Up Repair will soon have a van at the Morningside Heights and Inwood farmers markets.

This month Pop-Up Repair will make its first foray into Brooklyn with a stint a Film Biz Recycling, a vast warehouse-like shop on President Street and Third Avenue that sells and rents used props, wardrobe items and equipment from film and TV sets.

The setting is a good fit for Pop-Up Repair because Film Biz Recycling's mission is to cut down on waste in the movie and TV industry, and Goldmark wants Pop-Up Repair to get people thinking about how and why they consume and use household objects.

She said she's inspired by the food movement that's drawn attention to sustainable edible products.

"They did 20 or 30 years ago exactly what we're doing today, which is rethinking our relationship with what we consume," Goldmark said. "We care what we eat now, and we should also care about what we buy and bring into our home."

Pop-Up Repair will accept broken items from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday from March 12 to 30 at Film Biz Recycling, 540 President St.