Finally repair café in Starnberg again

Created: 03/11/2022, 07:01

The Starnberg Repair Café opens again.

(Iconic image) © Gerald Förtsch

After almost half a year of the compulsory Corona break, the Repair Café in Starnberg will reopen tomorrow, Saturday.

In the future it will be held once a month.

Starnberg – We live in a throwaway society – supposedly broken devices all too often end up directly in the bin.

Experienced inventors can often save a lot.

They want to prove that again tomorrow, Saturday, March 12th, when the Repair Café opens again for the first time after a long break in the rooms of the Starnberg Seniors' Club (Hanfelder Straße 10).

"We mainly repair a lot of household appliances here, such as toasters, coffee machines and vacuum cleaners, but also lamps," reports Peter Koziol, one of the organizers of the Repair Café.

"We've also repaired mechanical things such as toys or chairs." Of course, the inventors have also worked on unusual objects, such as a jukebox and a pinball machine.

Technically, the repair café is state-of-the-art, with a 3D printer even missing spare parts can be produced independently.

Incidentally, old devices are much easier to repair than newer ones, says Koziol.

With new devices, the owners often have to accept minor damage.

Volunteers from various fields such as electrical, engineering and tailoring

The volunteer repairers come from different trades and are all professionals.

"We have electricians, engineers and even tailors in our team," Koziol lists.

Most inventors are of retirement age, from their early 60s to their late 70s. The Repair Café working group has a total of 28 members.

Peter Stoehrel came up with the idea seven years ago.

After an appeal in the press, he gathered a team around him and founded the working group.

The first Repair Café took place shortly thereafter.

Stoehrel has now withdrawn from the project for health reasons – but the Repair Café is in good hands with Peter Koziol and his co-organizer Dieter Gebharde.

Long Repair Café break due to corona pandemic

"The last time was in November," says Koziol.

"We took a break in winter because of the Corona situation and are now looking forward to getting started again." Before the pandemic, the Repair Café was open monthly, so Koziol and colleagues are also planning for the future: "The situation is easing again, in addition, all employees are actually vaccinated.

That's why we hope to be able to open regularly again."

The last three times the repair café was only moderately frequented, only about half of the visitors from before Corona came, says Koziol.

“But the situation is better now, and we had more time to advertise our project.” The Repair Café is open from 1pm to 4pm.

A registration is not necessary.

3G and masks are mandatory.