The walls are clean, white and full of promise. The new premises of Powermax Computers is taking shape - and owner Alex Clarke hopes the new shop will be ready by the end of May.

After two major floods and nearly 15 years of doing business in the old Magellan Street shop, Alex and his co-business owner, Amelia Ahern are moving their business to the Wyrallah Road Shopping Centre.

Alex said since the February flood, they have been running the business from home, selling computers and accessories - but even before the flood devastated the entire CBD, they were already looking for a new shop.

“We were limited in the space we had in the old shop and needed to find a place where we could expand our computer servicing area,” Alex said.

“The floods were a shock to the community and we were not sure if the building would ever be usable again after the event, so we started talking to the landlord here.

“This shop used to be Service Solutions and the landlord expanded the space to include some of the floor space from the beauty parlour and the osteopath that were next door.

“Now it’s twice as big as the old shop and we can bring in more computer technicians.”

The flood

When the February flood inundated the CBD, Alex had moved all the shop stock and customers’ computers up into the roof cavity – which was above the 12.5-metre flood level.

“That was a big mistake we made in the 2022 event,” he said. “Trusting the storage we had was going to be safe - but it wasn’t.”

Flood plan

Now Alex has a flood plan for the new shop and has a rear door ready to remove the shop contents, if a flood looks imminent.

“We were lucky that Apple came to the party and helped by replacing all of the customer computers - no matter how old they were – with brand new computers,” he said.

“That would have cost us over 100,000 to do it and used up all of our capital and we would not have been able to restart.

“We have lost ten years of our work, but now and have reinvested our profits back into buying new stock.

“We are the only authorized Apple service from Coffs Harbour to Robina and we want to be able to support Lismore.”

Lismore love

“It’s so sad what’s happened to our town,” he said. “There’s lots of businesses that won’t come back, but we have the means to come back – just.

“This business is our baby.

“We love Lismore, it’s our home and where our heart is. The community is so strong and people really help each other here.”

The future

The future is looking up for Alex and Amelia – as well as the staff they have managed to retain.

“Some of our staff have left, but others have an emergency flood relief payment to keep them going while we are setting up.

“We had the electricity to the shop connected yesterday and air conditioning two days ago. Now we are replacing the ceiling tiles.”

Computer servicing

At the moment, Alex and Amelia are still selling computers, iphones and ipads – and can be contacted via the usual number on their website.

When it comes to computer fixing, Alex hopes to offer that service by mid-June.

Alex said setting up the new computer servicing workshop is no easy matter. Apple’s stringent standards mean the new workshop will need to be custom-built.

“Once we have built the new workshop, it will be checked and certified by Apple, then we can start offering computer servicing again,” he said.

The Apple criteria for a workshop includes health and safety guidelines such as mandating bench height and the including of an electricity cut off switch for the entire workshop.

To contact Powermax Computers, visit the website https://powermaxcomputers.com.au/