Repair Lair in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is far from your typical gear shop. Yes, it sells Arc’teryx jackets and Marmot sleeping bags, but none of them are new. Repair Lair is a fix-it and consignment outfit founded 2 1/2 years ago by Nancy Ford. The 58-year old, no-BS owner has held down a mixed bag of jobs in the outdoors over the years, including a wilderness therapy instructor in Idaho, an ice-core driller in Antarctica, a bike messenger in Boston. Her motto: spend less on gear, more on beer.
鈥淚f I can鈥檛 fix it, I鈥檒l tell you who can.鈥澛�
On any given day at Repair Lair, the three on-floor sewing machines are whirring. Nancy Ford and her crew can fix just about anything. 鈥淲e specialize in 鈥榗hub rub and bike butt鈥� [essentially crotch repairs]. We do a ton of zipper repairs and patches, but we can also re-seam tape a Gore-Tex jacket or re-loft a down sleeping bag,鈥� said Ford. She sees some crazy stuff. One guy recently brought in a tent with a decimated door. 鈥淗e has night terrors,” said Ford, 鈥渁nd he ripped the crap out of his new tent trying to get out. I’ve seen dogs do that kind of damage.鈥� She basically rebuilt the door for about $50. Most of Ford鈥檚 business is local, but she also accepts mail-in repairs鈥攁nd she gets them done and shipped back to the customer within about ten days (way faster than any warranty department, which often takes several months).
We are 鈥渇or cheap ass folks that want to be all green and shit.鈥�
Ford believes in keeping good gear in circulation and out of the landfills. Her shop is jammed with gear brought in by her customers for resale. You might score a Patagonia fleece for $20 or a Big Agnes tent for $100. Last week someone walked away with a $240 Nuptse down jacket from The North Face for 40 bucks. Ford will also haggle over the price. “Our prices aren’t firm,” she said. “People research prices online and we do our best to match what they find. Our customers really like shopping at Repair Lair and some don’t care about price, they just want to support a green business.”
Repair Lair is indeed green. Ford repairs everything she can. She makes tote bags out of tents that can鈥檛 be salvaged. And she donates stuff that doesn’t sell to homeless shelters.
鈥淚 want to develop more relationships with brands.鈥�
Ford says she often gets stonewalled from gear companies (like MSR, Chaco, and Keen, to name a few) when she tries to get parts. 鈥淚 guess it鈥檚 not part of their business model to support repairing their gear, but there are people out there like me doing this type of work. It鈥檚 good for the customer, it鈥檚 good for brand loyalty, it鈥檚 good for the environment, and there鈥檚 revenue to be had.鈥�