Have you dropped your phone and cracked the screen? Mike Fauteaux, an Aztec businessman, aims to ease your consternation.
Last week, Fauteaux opened Cell Doctors in downtown Durango. The business will fix a cracked phone screen for about $80 in most cases and generally in an hour or two.
The location is Fauteaux’s second. Cell Doctors’ initial location, at 3030 E. Main Street, Suite M, opened in January. He has plans for further expansion in New Mexico.
“By the end of this year, we would like to have six stores open,” Fauteaux said. In New Mexico, he’s also looking at Gallup, Taos, Grants and Rio Rancho as possible locations.
Fauteaux is co-owner of Cell Doctors along with Todd Charles, a retired Aztec police officer.
Fauteaux said Cell Doctors is the only shop of its kind in town. However, there’s also Durango Bad Apples, owned by Guy Winzenread, which focuses on repairing Mac phones and tablets. The Mac Ranch and Connecting Point offer authorized repair through Apple.
David Sessions, owner of The Mac Ranch, said unauthorized aftermarket repairs can be cheaper but less reliable. “It’s a lot more expensive to get it done the right way,” he said.
Cell Doctors will repair any type of smartphone, Fauteaux said. iPhones and Samsung Galaxy models are the most popular.
Along with their phones, people come into Fauteaux’s shops with stories. There was the Farmington man whose girlfriend caught him with another woman, and his cellphone received the punishment. The girlfriend smashed the phone against a wall, bending the case and cracking the screen.
Another man repeatedly backed over his phone while working on his truck’s transmission. Fauteaux was able to fix both phones.
While Fauteaux can repair most damage, he doesn’t bother with water damage. If you’ve dropped your cellphone in a toilet or otherwise had it submerged in water, parts will continue to corrode, he said. A new phone is the best option.
Fauteaux also sells insurance at rates that undercut phone manufacturers’ plans. He’s hoping that becomes a larger part of Cell Doctors’ business.
Cell Doctors’ Durango location, 679 East Second Ave., is accessed across Seventh Street from Mutu’s Italian Kitchen in the M.M. Mayer Building. Enter the Century 21 office and go upstairs.
The office is sparse, with only a large magnifying glass and various other tools. Fauteaux uses “really tiny Phillips screwdrivers and really sharp, tiny tweezers.”
Cell Doctors could benefit from low overhead as he prepares to expand. Each location needs only two employees and minimal equipment. Besides labor, rent is the main cost.
The business relies on the expectation that phones will continue to break. Fauteaux said he’s not worried Apple and other manufacturers will toughen their products.
“I don’t think they’ll ever make a screen that won’t break,” he said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
