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The Indiana Daily Student

IU student opens Apple device repair shop downtown

IU senior Kyle Jennings, the founder of new Bloomington business is no stranger to the perils of striking out into the corporate world.

Jennings opened Mac & Screen Repair, an Apple product repair shop, 
Jan. 16.

On opening day the store stayed empty. Jennings said he did not have a single customer all day.

“That’s when I learned that I should probably be by appointment only,” he said later, with a laugh.

Mac & Screen Repair is located close to campus, at 128 East Sixth St. Jennings does all of the repair work in front of customers.

“I’ve always enjoyed taking risks,” he said. “Entrepreneurship is a great way to fill my need for adrenaline.”

The store doesn’t have a back room — just a desk where Jennings performs repairs and a small seating area by the large windows.

Jennings said he felt it was important to establish a brick-and-mortar store for his business.

He said that one of his customers had an unsatisfying experience with an at-home computer repair service. That reinforced, for him, his decision to open a shop.

“I feel like a physical store kind of builds trust with people,” he said.

Jennings’ first business venture, an app called “Buzzed,” was intended to help students find drink deals on campus. The app was based in Bloomington, but Jennings eventually was able to expand to Indianapolis and Atlanta, Georgia.

He took a break from school in fall 2016 to focus on developing and marketing the app.

However, “Buzzed” did not turn out to be as successful as Jennings had hoped.

“It was a complete failure,” he said. “I lost a bunch of money. It never gained traction.”

After “Buzzed” fizzled, Jennings took a job fixing Apple products at Simply Mac, a repair store in 
College Mall.

Jennings said the simplicity of repairing Apple computers and devices motivated him to begin doing repairs on his own.

“I thought that they were overcharging people for the services that they did,” he said. “So I thought, ‘Why not just start my own?’”

Mac & Screen Repair offers basic repair services, device troubleshooting and classes about using Apple devices.

Jennings said customers most commonly come in with cracked iPhone and computer screens, and he charges from $129.99 to $259.99, depending on the model, for iPhone screen repairs.

IU freshman Samuel Sanderson needed a replacement screen for his MacBook Pro so he brought it to Mac & Screen Repair.

He said that he searched for Apple repair services on the internet and found Jennings’ business in the results.

“Kyle was able to replace the screen in about three business days,” he said. “It cost me about $500, which is kind of a bargain considering how new my 
computer is.”

Sanderson said that he was pleased with the results of the repair and wouldn’t hesitate to return to Mac & Screen Repair if he needed any other devices repaired.

On average, Jennings gets about two customers per day. Most of the customers are college students, he said.

“When they walk in they’re like, ‘Oh, wait. You look too young to be doing this’,” Jennings said. “So I’m their age, I’m not trying to scam them, and all the work that I do, I do it right in front of them.”

Ji Lee, a senior finance major at IU, said he liked the familiarity of doing business with a fellow 
student.

He brought his MacBook to Mac & Screen Repair for data recovery.

Lee said he was surprised by Jennings’ easygoing attitude and flexible business hours.

“It didn’t seem like a transaction as much as a friend helping out a friend,” he said.

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