It’s a familiar feeling: a once-useful item now gathers dust because of a missing part or an ‘I’ll get to it later’ reminder to fix it. These items take up valuable space in our homes and losing the ability to use a tool like a sewing machine or an electric tea kettle is bothersome. Many are tempted to simply throw out their broken things in favor of something new. Repair Cafe is a global organization that helps volunteers provide community members with the know-how to fix their own household items. Read on to learn more about New Jersey’s very own Repair Cafe programs and how they got started in Jersey City.
About the Concept
Repair and reuse are the highest forms of recycling. Yet, each decade since WWII has seen an increase in single and short-lived objects made and sold. The once ubiquitous neighborhood repair shops are mostly a thing of the past. Our global trash catastrophes in waterways and on land prove that the throwaway culture our economy thrives upon is doing us no good and a lot of harm. One solution can be found in an international effort to help individuals get more use out of the objects they already own.
The Right to Repair Movement is about 15 years old and now boasts around 4000 programs in 40 countries. In 2020, Elizabeth Knight Moss and John Wackman wrote the definitive book on the subject. Elizabeth now organizes the Jersey City Repair Café, one of six repair cafe programs in New Jersey.
Elizabeth along with John Wackman, coauthored an entire book on the subject. Repair Revolution: How Fixers are Transforming our Throwaway Culture is both a history and a how-to. It’s a riveting — hehe — read. Repair volunteers tell tales of great feats of refurbishing alongside accounts of fun interactions that often occur as neighbors sit together focused on their repair work. The authors’ commentary on our culture of overconsumption comes in the form of stories that explain how we got here and how to fix the broken parts of our society that led to the big garbage pileup we’ve bought ourselves into.
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A Concept Café
Elizabeth does not just write about the problem of overconsumption, she organizes monthly Repair Café events in Jersey City to address it. Repair Café events are free to attend with a typical recommendation of two broken objects per person. The repairs are overseen by volunteer coaches who bring their fixpertise but do not provide a drop-off service. Instead, they help the object’s owner first to figure out what the problem is. Then, once a diagnosis has been suggested, the owner of the broken object is directed to the coach best able to assist them in completing their own repair work. None of the coaches are paid, so the reward must be found in land and water spared and the pleasure of sharing useful skills with grateful neighbors.
Waste Not, Want Not
Lamps are the most common repair objects. Frayed wires can result from pets chewing them. The socket may need to be replaced. The power cord could age ahead of the lamp too. Typically, the lamp’s owner leaves with their possession in perfect condition. The same is often true for vacuum cleaners, and bikes. What seemed irretrievably broken upon entry becomes good as new by the time of exit. And the object’s owner has the satisfaction of having done it themself.
A battle in the fight against fast fashion plays out at Repair Café gatherings too. Coaches see sewing machines that have been passed down over the generations. A Singer missing its zigzag foot might end up with a grandson who is interested in getting the thing working again so that he can hem his own pants or maybe sew a secret pocket into the inside of a jacket. Visible mending is all the rage at the moment, so seamless perfection is less of a goal than getting something unworn back into use. Luckily, sewing machines are typically built with future service as a given.
Elizabeth notes that the repairs can actually be “very emotional because you don’t bring it in unless you need it, or you love it, or the circumstances of how you acquired it are moving. It’s not just a thing or people won’t bother. The object is often something the person really relies on.” She finds that the increasing number of fixit clinics, mending circles, restart parties, and other similar repair events serve as a terrific way to connect with people in a shared community. It’s fun for the people who step up to coach and those who come tend to return, not just because their household objects are in need of another fix but also because they just enjoy it.
It’s a Movement
The right-to-repair movement is gaining ground in the US. Bills regulating companies producing tech with unnecessarily limited lifespans passed this year in both California and New York. Legislation against planned obsolescence in manufacturing keeps coming, including in New Jersey. Throughout the last 15 years, automobile right-to-repair bills, legislation addressing specific products like wheelchairs and agricultural equipment, and laws impacting the production of tech devices have all been passed in various US states. Laws ensuring that easily replaced components are not soldered into place have been proven necessary as manufacturers have repeatedly shown that, left alone, they will not work to ensure longer-lasting products. In the Netherlands, data that came from Repair Cafés was used to shape right-to-repair legislation.
It’s a Philosophy
The people who sign on as Repair Café coaches are a mix of hobbyists, retired, appliance business professionals, and folks who are just passionate about fixing and can’t bear to see things thrown out. The coaches bring tools and standard supplies with them. Some repair jobs can require a creative fix. Volunteer coaches will likely have clever tricks at the ready. Often, there needs to be a workaround, a visible mending, or an opportunity to make a creative expression out of a patch. Letting the object’s owner ultimately make the fix turns the work into something shared and jointly celebrated.
There’s definitely a cross-generational appeal to the activity of fixing. Some cafes around the world organize a take-apart section for kids. The Tinkerbell stations set up at the Maple Ridge Repair Cafés in British Columbia encourage children to get hands-on with tools and learn how things work.
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Where to Repair
Repair Café Garden State helps direct New Jersey residents with repair needs to their closest source of repair coaching. The programs are all held in free community meeting spaces. Each is chosen for its proximity to parking, public transit, and wheelchair accessibility. That accessibility also helps those lugging big wagons laden with heavy objects.
The Jersey City Repair Café meets in the gym of the Grace Church Van Vorst at 39 Erie Street in Downtown Jersey City. The Ridgewood group gets together in the Ridgewood Public Library Auditorium on 125 North Maple Avenue. South Orange and Maplewood have their gatherings at the Baird Community Center at 5 Mead Street in South Orange. The Rutherford Repair Café convenes in the basement of the Rutherford Public Library at 150 Park Avenue. Madison’s group meets in the Madison Ambulance Corporation on 29 Prospect Street. Residents of Summit can fix their beloved objects at Christ Church on 561 Springfield Avenue.
Forum Coffee Opening in Hoboken on 3/14
In this Mile Square city, every storefront is full of history. Businesses that occupy a space today may not have been there a decade ago, just as the ones before them replaced other businesses that once called that space home. Pour Amour, which originally took over the location of Empanadas Cafe in 2021, closed its 123 Washington Street location in mid-February, making room for local franchise Forum Coffee to take its place and continue the cycle of change in the neighborhood. Now, we know that Forum Coffee will officially open its Hoboken outpost on Friday, March 14th. Read on for what we know about Pour Amour's closure and Forum taking over the Washington Street location in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Details
Pour Amour, Hoboken’s first pour-over specialty coffee house, has served the community strong brews and sweet treats since July 2021. On February 13th, 2025 the spot announced the closure of its 123 Washington Street location via Instagram.
"[We] wanted to thank each and every one of you who supported our business through these last 4 years," the caption reads. "We will never forget the memories and great energy we shared with this community."
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According to the owners Massimo Aronson and Nico Aronson, their "careers have led them elsewhere, and with a great offer on the table, [they] felt it was time to move on," they told The Hoboken Girl. "Thank you for being a part of the Pour Amor family."
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While the Hoboken community must say goodbye to Pour Amour, the presence of everyone's favorite caffeinated drink isn't going away at this storefront. Forum Coffee, a New Jersey-born and bred coffee shop, has taken over the space as of February 14th. This business, which has other establishments in East Hanover and Livingston, plans for seven more openings this year, with its new Hoboken location being its first acquisition of 2025.
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The space was open under the name Pour Amour Powered by Forum during the transition period, but is now in the renovations process. The space will reopen as just Forum Coffee on Friday, March 14th, per an Instagram post from the team.
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Upon its official opening, Hudson County locals can look forward to all kinds of lattes, cappuccinos, seasonal drinks, cold brews, tea, and fresh juice. Among other treats, Forum Coffee will also serve egg sandwiches, quiches, organic bone broth, pastries, shakes, and soft serve.
About Forum Coffee
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Forum Coffee is a business that specializes in all things treats. From lattes to matcha to its signature treats like cannolis, carrot cake, and chocolate chip cookies, New Jersey locals can find everything under the sun at this spot.
With the goal of bringing NYC-style coffee renaissance to the Garden State, Forum Coffee has opened locations in East Hanover, Livingston, and now Hoboken since its conception. Being born and raised in Essex and Morris County, the founders of this coffee shop plan to "quickly [expand] throughout the Essex and Morris County area...and eventually beyond to give New Jersey the coffee experience it deserves," as per the business's website. In just 2025 alone, Forum Coffee has made plans to open a location in Bloomfield, Cedar Grove, Chatham, Denville, Nutley, Springfield, and West Orange.
About Pour Amour
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Owners Massimo and Nico opened Pour Amour in July 2021 as a part of their newest business venture. Throughout its four years in Hoboken, Pour Amor prided itself as the first pour-over specialty coffee house, serving drinks like seasonal lattes, matcha, and various kinds of pastries and treats.
Massimo and Nico are also both the owners of Buon Appetito in Bayonne and Massimo is the owner of Hoboken's Bagels on the Hudson, the only 24-hour bagel shop in the area. "We'll miss seeing you all, but we're not going anywhere!" the owners told The Hoboken Girl. "You can always find us at Bagels on the Hudson, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day."
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