Cruising down Merrick Road drivers might pass a rather unusual-looking business — a storefront adorned with neon graffiti and Roswell-style artsy alien motifs.
It is one of Massapequa’s newest businesses; iKURE, a cell phone/computer repair and customization shop operated by artist, musician, and electronics professional Billy Kure, whose love of art and dedication to his craft clearly infuses each and every square inch of his store; it’s that resultant look, he said, that tends to make people sit up and notice.
“Everything that I do I do as an artist, and I don’t do it unless I have a passion for it,” he said. “Back when I first got into this field, I was one of the first guys on Long Island iPhone repair stores, and I wanted to add a flair to it, because I knew it was would get people’s attention.”
(Photos by Chris Boyle)
Kure, a Woodmere resident, opened his first store in Hewlett about two years ago; his new Massapequa location has only been open just under a month, with plans to open more locations in the years ahead, including ones outside of New York and possibly even the country. The main reason he said that he expects this ambitious endeavor to take off is the importance most people place upon their personal electronics these days.
“Smartphones can be a person’s entire life…they have all your appointments on them, your baby pictures, you pay your bills with them…everything,” he said. “So, if you break your screen, you can go to Apple which will probably just give you a refurbished phone without any of your stuff on it, or you can come here and get a factory-quality screen replacement in 20 minutes and be on your way.”
Kure noted that all work is backed with a 90-day warranty, and many repairs can be done in 20 minutes, as long as the parts are in-stock. Customers waiting on repairs can hang out in a mini-lounge located at the front of the store and kill some time playing Xbox games on a widescreen television.
Kure said that iPhone, iPad and iPod are the core of the business, but he also works on other tablet computers and pretty much all other phones. Despite a focus on Apple products, if it’s got boards, ports, and chips, he said, then iKURE can fix it.
“However, the market really thrives around the Apple technology, and we consider ourselves specialists because we literally can repair any part or component of these devices,” he said. “We have a full supply of parts for everything, every cable, board, you name it. We can build a phone from the ground up, if need be, and all work is done here on the premises. And if you need something else repaired and we don’t have the parts, we can order pretty much anything, no problem.”
One popular and exciting hook concerning iKURE is the ability to fully customize the appearance of your iPhone in almost every respect, from sparkly glass to shiny bling; it’s this ability to further exercise his artistic edge and attitude that Kure said separates his business from all the others.
“Instead of the black or white screen that Apple offers, we can put a different color that you like on, such as blue, yellow, pink, and even ones that glow in the dark,” he said. “We also have mirror finishes, patterns such as camouflage, and so on.”
iKURE is located at 4344 Merrick Road. To find out more, visit www.ikure.net.
