Repair and Run, a company founded by some of the people behind the founding and success of Mobile Klinik, the Canadian chain of smartphone and tablet repair shops, continues to expand the concept for bike, e-bike and scooter repairs.
After the successful launch of its first location in downtown Toronto at 363 Queen Street West in 2021, the brand opened a location in Ottawa in May last year in the Westboro area of the city and it has secured two more leases as it plans to open a second Toronto location as well as one in Kitsilano.
“We’re on our way to fulfilling our goal of being the go-to destination in Canada for service on micro mobility vehicles,” said Youssef Botros, VP of Business Development for the company.
“We are in the process right now of waiting for our permits. We’ve done the design for both locations and are planning on opening March sometime depending on the permits of course. They’re going to be a similar look and feel to what our customers are already going to today and providing the same quality service people are getting with the addition of the ‘come to you’ service which is powered by our e-bikes.”
He said the Toronto store will be located on Bloor Street West while the Kitsilano store will be on West 4th Avenue.
“We first want to open up in the markets where we have the most users. So Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal. All the places where people are cycling more and especially using e-bikes and e-scooters,” said Botros.
“But when we’re looking at a location, it needs to be big enough to have service in the front. It needs to be easily accessible as you know e-bikes are quite heavy so having stairs in our entrance that doesn’t work for us. It needs to be in a place where it has parking around the area if not its own parking lot. Obviously it would be really good to have a spot that is near bike paths and parks. You get more visibility that way.”
Image: Repair and Run 
Image: Repair and Run
Botros said the company wants to open more locations and it has raised some investment capital from private investors.
“The plan is we want to open 40 to 50 of these over the next several years, starting first with the more dense urban markets and then sprinkling our locations to areas where they may not be as dense or as popular with the cycling world.”
When the brand was first launched in Canada, Botros said the company was trying to follow the same road map that Mobile Klinik used to become such a national success.
“Repair & Run was actually first started in France about five years ago. The mobile bicycle repair business since then has grown into a network of brick and mortar stores within France. The Canadian branch just started. It’s been in the works for a little while,” said Botros in a previous Retail Insider story.
“Ken Campbell, my partner, approached me while I was at Mobile Klinik, and said ‘hey we really like the work that you did at Mobile Klinik and we were wondering if you wanted to join this company’. I’m an avid cyclist myself. It’s one of the things I enjoy most. Some people have yoga or the gym. This is my way to disconnect. I love to explore new places.”
Janine Maginniss & Jay Freedman of Oberfeld Snowcap are handling site selection and real estate needs for Repair and Run.
