CPR for cellphones: Evergreen business is major repair hub for electronic devices
<p>CPR Cell Phone Repair owner Wayne Grilley plans to open another store in Missoula.</p>
<p>More than one hundred different models of cell phones sit in bins waiting to be used for spare parts at CPR Cell Phone Repair.</p>
<p>More than one hundred different models of cell phones sit in bins waiting to be used for spare parts at CPR Cell Phone Repair.</p>
<p>This Samsung Infuse, waiting to be fixed at CPR Cell Phone Repair, was damaged when the phone was run over by a car.</p>
The stories Wayne Grilley hears on a
daily basis have a recurring theme.
A flustered mother stops by to say her teenager has once again
cracked the digitizer in her iPod. Can he fix it?
A 20-something just busted the LCD (liquid crystal display) on his
two-week-old smartphone. Can he fix it?
Grandma dropped her cellphone in the dog’s water dish. Can he fix
it?
Grilley’s answer: You bet.
He owns and operates CPR Cell Phone Repair on U.S. 2 East in
Evergreen, and has seen business burgeon since he bought the
franchise two years ago. Because companies that sell electronic
devices such as cellphones and iPods offer insurance policies to
cover repairs but typically don’t repair phones and devices,
Grilley’s repair business is an up-and-coming niche.
“This is so new there’s not a competitor within 250 miles,” Grilley
said.
He bought the franchise rights for Kalispell and Missoula and plans
to have a store up and running in Missoula within six months.
With the nearest CPR franchise located in Bozeman, Grilley’s
customer base cuts a wide swath, from Great Falls to the Canadian
border. There are just 45 CPR stores throughout the United
States.
Right now, his Kalispell store is so busy he keeps three full-time
technicians busy, and Grilley is proud to employ all “local boys,”
— Ben Skeim, Chuck Blaney and Steve Gray.
“We try to kill ’em with customer service,” Grilley said. “Most
repairs can be done within a couple of hours. That’s another big
advantage we offer.”
A longtime car salesman and the former manager of High Country
Honda, Grilley was looking for a way to reinvent himself after High
Country was sold to Eisinger Motors.
A good friend of his had opened a CPR store in Pocatello, Idaho, so
Grilley spent four days there observing the repair process.
He was sold on the idea and put the wheels in motion to open his
own franchise. Grilley figured the potential for cellphone repair
was pretty big, considering about 85 percent of the population now
has cellphones.
And people are tough on their phones, he said as he held up a
tattered phone in two pieces, the casualty of a skateboarding
mishap. He and his technicians can fix the lion’s share of broken
phones.
Even roughly 80 percent of phones with liquid damage — dropped into
a lake, toilet or other water source — can be repaired. Salt water
makes is more difficult to fix, though, because of the salt
deposits, he said.
The savings to repair a phone instead of buying a new one,
especially if the owner’s cellphone contract isn’t up, can be huge,
Grilley said. For example, a smartphone offered for $150 or so with
a special two-year contract will cost $600 or more to
replace.
“My main customer base is people under contract who can’t replace
their phone at the same contract price,” he said.
In a downturned economy, fixing phones is much more economical than
simply buying a new one.
“When these contractors were making the big bucks a few years ago,
they just bought new phones,” Grilley pointed out. Now they’re
coming in for repairs.
Grilley keeps about $10,000 worth of new parts in inventory, but
keeping up with parts for the fast-moving cellphone industry can be
a challenge.
“A lot of newly released phones, you can’t get parts right away,”
he said. “My guys find something new every day.”
Grilley was trained as a repair technician, too, and the staff has
access to an online tutor for troubleshooting repair jobs.
The store keeps chargers and batteries for older cellphones in
stock, so that draws another layer of customers. CPR offers a wide
range of repair services that includes fixing gaming systems such
as Xboxes, Wii and PS3s, and iPods. The store also keeps about 50
phones from each major provider in stock and sells
accessories.
Grilley especially enjoys the customer-service end of the
business.
“The most gratifying is repairing someone’s phone who really needs
to get it done fast,” he said.
That quick service has elevated him to hero status on occasion, but
Grilley takes a humble perspective.
“We’re not miracle workers. We just learned the trade.”
CPR Cell Phone Repair is located at 2243 U.S. 2 E., across from the
Evergreen Fire Hall. Call 257-2348 or go online to
www.cprmt.com.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by
email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.