Today, SOS Phone Repairs is another of Lismore's flooded CBD businesses to reopen on Molesworth Street, nearly two years after being decimated by the big flood.

It was October 2020, when Josh and Stephanie Chapman managed the first SOS Phone Repairs on Woodlark Street, near the NightOwl convenience store. February 28 2022 closed the business down with the Chapman's moving back to Coffs Harbour.

Owners Hugh Arthur Senior and Hugh Arthur Junior have reinvested in Lismore to keep a presence in our city. The pair are passionate about the SOS Phone Repair brand, owning stores in Ballina, Casino, Byron, Murwillumbah, Yamba and as of today Lismore.

"The reason we decided to become part of the SOS family fraternity was the integrity and the investment they made into technology because mobile phones are no longer just a communication tool. Mobile phones now have everything from finance to personal contacts to interaction."

"So, the responsibility in fixing them is really borne out when you see how anxious anybody is when they bring in their phone, and especially the older fraternity, who are a little intimidated by technology and we pride ourselves on that clear communication to reassure them that no, no, it's a broken screen, it's not the end of the world. Water damage isn't the end of the world and we will salvage the pictures of your daughter's wedding or your granddaughter's christening or whatever it is. So, it's a fascinating sort of social interaction that you had on a clinical exercise of fixing phones."

February 28 2022 didn't just affect the Lismore store, although it was affected the worst, the Arthur's had water through all their stores but only a little through the Ballina and Byron Bay store. It took two weeks to reopen the five stores but Lismore was a totally different scenario.

Why did you decide to reopen in Lismore?

"We were determined to come back with other locals," Hugh Snr said, "We can't deny how humbling it is to be supported like we were when we arrived in Lismore and the encouragement we've had from the Lismore community to reopen. That gave us confidence to reopen and we won't take that for granted."

"I don't want to sound egotistical, but we go to great lengths for service and warranty and the support we get in all our other stores. We had so many people in the floods coming from Lismore to us and you create an ongoing relationship with those people. So that gave us the confidence to say yes, irrespective of the floods we're going to go back into Lismore."

"There was that overriding constitution of Lismore that we're not giving up, you know, it was something we would want to be a part of. To say, yeah, we'll stand shoulder to shoulder with you. We'll come back with you."

"Coming from the land, we've had our fair share of droughts, fires and floods. So, those natural disasters, we weren't perhaps as intimidated by them as others because living in the bush they're a natural part of your life.

"It was so obvious that you guys weren't going to lie down after the flood that you were going to rebuild and we thought, well, that's a pretty good community to be part of, that sort of Australian tradition of battlers and let's just get on with it attitude and we thought, yeah, we'd like to be part of that."

Flood plan

The rebuilt SOS Phone Repairs will have a lot of equipment on castors as part of the Arthur's flood plan.

"We'll be proactive, erring on the side of caution and going early with stock. As you can imagine, any of the parts because they're internal, they can't get any moisture. So, it's not doesn't matter if they get submerged, that's academic. If there's any sort of great deal of moisture, they don't handle it, so we'd be leaving very, very early."

"We're conscious in the fit-out that we haven't put carpets down and we haven't done a lot of things where items can't be salvaged when there's another flood. There's a sort of homage around town with these exposed walls and exposed beams and cement floors. It's sort of like, here are the scars of the last flood and we're proud to show those scars and now we're living with them. I think it's rustically beautiful."

"So, we haven't done anything with the floor of the shop. It's been freshly painted, etc, etc. and we're very proud of the shop."

What does SOS offer?

Whether you are an Apple person or a Samsung person SOS will offer 12 months warranty on their repairs and refurbished mobile phones.

"This is why we're really proud to be part of SOS, we're proud of our warranty. We give the same years warranty on our refurbished phones as Apple does. We basically have a no-questions-asked warranty. If you've got any problem, we're not going to risk the brand, or our local reputation on the pedantic fact of something. Consumers now know what they expect from a phone size, gigabytes, lots of things like that."

"And they're not swayed easily by oh, here's the latest model. A lot of people now are saying that's not a lot of features that I really cherish and I want another iPhone 8, iPhone 11 or 13 Pro. Can you get one for me? That's what I mean about being the biggest retailer, we have this huge range because of our buying power."

"Then you get the other practical side of it. My kids are at school or I have an elderly parent and I just want something that's sort of basically one dimensional, something that can text and can phone."

"We have iPhone 8s for 300 bucks. You still get your years warranty and they've done a 72-point diagnostic check, so we've hooked them up with computer checks, batteries, motherboards, cameras, everything."

"You get free data transfer when you buy from us which nobody else gives. It's at least $40 at any of the big retailers or telcos, 50% off your cases, 50% off your screen protectors and you're charging gear. We also have a price-beat guarantee. So it's an incredibly good deal and it's ongoing."

You will find SOS Phone Repairs at 62 Molesworth Street, just up from Diamond Plus near the Woodlark Street end.

They will be open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday's 9am to 1pm.