Affordable Belgium space part of Game N’ Repair’s business plan

Getting your devices repaired locally can cost you less and get you better service — at least at the recently opened Game N’ Repair at the intersection of Highway LL and Main Street in Belgium, according to owner Ross Christifulli.

By paying low rent and keeping the store independent, he said he can pass savings to customers seeking to get their mobile phones, computers and gaming devices fixed.

“Companies like UBreakIFix charge their franchise owners 3% to 5% of their revenue,” he said. “To compensate, the owners have to charge their customers more.”

His store has other benefits for consumers as well.

“Other stores have to mail out for certain repairs. Others don’t have micro-soldering,” Christifulli said. Others have to do more extensive repairs that are unnecessary with the proper equipment.

Most franchise stores operate month-to-month on razor-thin margins, he said, which doesn’t allow them buy specialized equipment.

“We try to elevate our repairs,” Christifulli said, noting he can replace a unique microchip many other stores can’t when he fixes broken iPhone screens.

Customers also have the option of getting a $50 Liquid Gel screen protector at his store, which gives them insurance for as much as $150 on the phone.

“That’s a lot cheaper than the $15 or $20 dollar-a-month insurance plus deductible customers often have,” he said.

According to Christifulli, the store’s core idea is to “charge less for better.”

One way he goes about this is locating in Belgium, where rent is inexpensive.

“Customers might drive an extra 10 to 15 minutes, but they pay 30% to 40% less,” he said.

Cellphone and video game repairs is most of his business, Christifulli said. “The rest is fun stuff.”

The storefront is packed with video games, including retro’ 80’s NES cartridges and disks for modern consoles.

“Seeing kids faces light up as they look in through the glass is great — that didn’t happen at my old phone repair place,” Christifulli said.

He started to do phone repairs after fixing his own phone. Then, he said, “my music lesson students started to ask me to fix theirs.

“Eventually, I started to go to mall phone repair kiosks and fixing phones for them, too.”

Many of those kiosks would accept repairs before finding someone to fix them, Christifulli said.

In 2011, he started a phone repair store  called Planet Mobile in West Bend, which he said was successful.

He sold that business in 2016 to move into  marketing and software development.

This knowledge helped him promote Game N’ Repair online, where he has a Facebook page and website, selling games and receiving repairs.

His son, he said, inspired him to get into retro video games.

“My son got into old Nintendo GameBoys. So we bought a kit online that added light to the back of the screen,” Christifulli said. “Well, we started selling those.

“We would buy them for $40 and sell them for $200 on eBay.”

The old video games have been a bigger hit at the store than he expected, Christifulli said. And the games have turned the store into a family operation.

“My kids love helping out,” he said.
“We live just down the road from the store.”

Game N’ Repair is a bit of an experiment, Christifulli said.

“I always have the mindset, try it out,” he said. “If the town doesn’t need or want the service, then we will close.

“But so far the town has really showed it’s support.”