Repair Cafe

… where you can bring along your things that need fixing or mending.
Our volunteer fixers and menders are at the Port Phillip EcoCentre on the 2nd Sunday of each month (except January) from 2-5pm (no new items started after 4:30pm).

Preview before you bring it in

You can email the repair cafe (stkilda.repaircafe@gmail.com) with an explanation of the fault including pictures where appropriate, and we’ll give you an idea of whether it’s worth bringing in the item to one of our repair cafe sessions.

Click here for repair queries

Want to get involved?

If you’re interested in helping keep the St Kilda Repair Cafe up and running, or if you have any other questions about it, please contact John Hillel:

Please note:  All our fixers are VOLUNTEERS, and there is no charge made for the fixes they do. However any donations people would like to make are welcomed to help us cover our costs (website, glues & other materials used from time to time.)

Computers, laptops and phones wanted

Bring your unwanted phones,  laptops and computers to the St. Kilda Repair Cafe and our IT experts will wipe all the data to ensure your personal information is safe and then we will donate them to Refugees and Asylum Seekers via Deakin University’s Centre for Refugee Employment, Advocacy, Training and Education (CREATE) program.

NOTE: 

  • Ensure it’s working – we don’t repair phones or computers
  • Please bring power cables/chargers
  • If it’s an iPhone we’ll need your password to reset to factory settings.

For further details contact: stkilda.repaircafe@gmail.com 

St Kilda Bike Kitchen

The volunteers of the St Kilda Bike Kitchen run an open workshop at the Repair Cafe (usually on the footpath in front of the building).  The volunteers have the necessary skills and bicycle-specific tools to help you fix most of the problems you may be having with your bicycle.  

The St Kilda Bike Kitchen is a non-profit, all-volunteer-run organization which teaches folks how to maintain and repair their own bicycles.  Their mission is to grow and support a vibrant and welcoming community, where any person can learn to build, maintain and repair bicycles; and to nurture ecological sustainability and personal well-being by promoting the bicycle as a fun, safe and accessible form of transportation.

For more information about the StKBK or if you would like to join their project, please contact them at stkbikekitchen@gmail.com.  You can also find them at www.facebook.com/stkbikekitchen

Progress to date - as at April 2025

Since November 2017:

  • 1349 items fixed (55% of those brought in)
  • 343 items "almost fixed" (eg need parts)
  • 3155 kg estimated to have been saved from landfill (which doesn't tell the whole story as this includes a LOT of clothes that don't actually weigh very much!)
 

On average, our fixers and menders have fixed or ‘almost fixed’ more than two out of every three items brought in and saved over 3 tonnes of items from landfill!

Watch for our Repair Cafe dates in 2025

Second Sunday of every month except January:  

  • Sunday 11 May 2025
  • Sunday 8 June 
  • Sunday 13 July
  • Sunday 10 August
  • Sunday 14 September
  • Sunday 12 October
  • Sunday 9 November
  • Sunday 14 December

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Follow this link for information about where you can take items for reuse/repurposing/recycling.13