An 83-year-old man who was left paralyzed after a stroke two years ago decided not to give up and continued to repair used strollers in his small workshop in Montreal North, a profession unique in Canada.
34 years ago, when he strolled through the streets of the district and saw abandoned prams in the garbage, he had the idea of giving these objects a second life.
“I was a letterer and my job started to disappear as computers took over. Here I said to myself, I still have a month to get started,” says Robert Gingras, owner of Bébé Roulant.
So he decided to convert and start his business with just $3,000 in the bank and a home on which he was still paying the mortgage.
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“I would go to department stores to leave cards and I would go to mall parking lots to leave my card during the holidays, that’s how it worked,” he explains.
Referenced by Google for a few years, its phone doesn’t ring with families who increasingly prefer to buy used strollers due to the new price.
Alone amid his tools, Robert Gingras therefore vies with his ingenuity to attempt to restore these objects. “I am a patent […] Sometimes I modify a part and then it works,” he emphasizes.
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The eighty-year-old has the special feature that he is the only one who fulfills this task in Canada. A Vancouver customer who was visiting family in metropolitan Quebec told him he could never find anyone else to fix his stroller.
“I’m unique. I do it professionally, but also because I love the job,” says the man, who recovered from a right-sided paralysis after a stroke.
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Ever more complex strollers
Even prams are not immune to modernization, and some mechanics then become more and more complicated to improve.
Mr. Gingras is therefore sometimes forced to refuse certain repairs that are not feasible. “[Les gens] Put down $20 and if it doesn’t work, at least we tried.”
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He specifically warns parents who want to buy strollers from resale sites like Kijiji to check their condition before buying.
“You have to look closely at the wheels, especially when the pivots are loosening, but also at the brakes when they’re working well,” he argues.
Mr. Gingras, who is in his studio ten hours a week, has no intention of leaving his studio any time soon.