I’m not sure whether the “temporary” part of the sign below is true or not, but the reopen track record of businesses that put up this vague sort of sign is pretty low.
Thanks to Billy for the report and the pic!
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I would have been a customer of the store, but the last six attempts to visit the location during “normal” business hours always ended at the locked door.
Personally, I’m sorry the tied up the space for so long.
I can’t hear them now.
The Verizon store near Northlake Mall (not the one in the mall but the one near Bally’s and Starbucks) is by far the best one in our area. Large, great selection, excellent customer service. It’s a stand-alone building/Verizon store…not some off-shoot mini-store in a strip mall kind of place.
I totally agree! Well worth the trip.
This place was always COMPLETELY empty. I went there once and they seemed not to have any phones or anyone who knew anything about phones. This had to have been a front for something…
Your story reminded me a friend had asked me to post about this business several weeks ago. I took photos on 2/3, but never got around to doing the post on inDECATURga.US, until today.
The friend says he made a deposit at this store, and then it closed, and he’s not been able to get his deposit back. Verizon says it cannot help him because it’s not a company store, only an associate.
I never understand how network cell phone stores stay in business in the first place – how often do people replace phones? Then again, I’m not the perfect demographic, as I’m sticking with my 3 year old cell until the iPhone goes to a provider other than AT&T.
Actually I’ve been reading a LOT of cell phone reviews recently because I’m planning to get a new one, and I am amazed at how often some people go through their phones. In the last 12 years I’ve only had 4 phones and I kept them all until they just up and died. Apparently most people don’t do it that way!
As a 17+ year veteran employee of the wireless industry, I can speak to this. First, think in terms of the number of customers a national wireless carrier has. Just between AT&T and Verizon, they total about 170 million subscribers (many are families with multiple phones/service).
Second, with the fast pace of technological innovation, many of these customers are attracted to the opportunity to get a new and cool phone.
Third, with the saturation of the wireless market, the four national competitors are constantly waging war to steal each other’s customers. Since one company’s phones are “locked” only to their network, the customer must buy new equipment.
Fourth, new technologies require new equipment. As the big companies move to the fourth generation of digital wireless, they spend many years and lots of money to transition customers to new handsets that work on the new technology.
I could go on, but I hope this gives you some insight as to why there are so many stores out there.
That does enlighten me, thanks! I bet you cell phone guys hate me, as I’m about on par with CSD Mom with 3 or 4 cell phones in 12 years.
A report on NPR this morning about tracking people’s (boring) movement patterns, mentioned that a report somewhere projected that by the end of this year 5 BILLION people would have cell phones.
How is that possibly true?
In the developing third world, they’ve never even gotten to the point of laying land lines for much of the country, and cells have made phone service possible for those previously denied through lack of infrastructure. I recall some fascinating coverage a while back on micro-entrepreneurs who might have one of just a couple cell phones in a village and they sell talk time on them.
Yep. Land-lines are buggy whips.
Scott is absolutely right about the developing third world. Much easier and cheaper to build a wireless infrastructure than laying landlines.
And Flaka, we actually like you. We take a loss on every phone we sell, and customers like you bring steady revenues and lower churn (subscriber losses). So use that phone! My bonus thanks you.
What’s a bonus?
Maybe I will trade phones, as the battery life on mine is getting limited and I think I might be able to find something smaller:
http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/oldcellphones2_18_06_08.jpg
A bonus is something that I was shocked to hear I was getting. I am very, very, very fortunate to be in an industry that has managed to weather the recession better than most. Every day I go to work, I am thankful for having a job to go to.
And great pic, Flaka! For those who care, that was a toy version of the old Motorola classic, commonly referred to as a “brick” phone. It also did duty as a doorstop, tire chock and instrument of blunt force trauma.
Not just true of third world countries. Since the ’90s, caribbean islands have found they can stick a single tower on the highest point of the island and provide coverage for all the residents at a lower cost than it used to take to support and maintain the shoddy landline service they had previously.
The service at Northlake is excellent. The service at the Decatur store is non-existent.
Totally second the North Lake Verizon store. Those guys rock. They are fast, and friendly. Avoid the one by Borders on Ponce. The few times i have been there, it didn’t seem very busy, but they were very slow.
I’m a fan of the AT&T store on Ponce, down from the CVS, around the corner from Patries a Go-Go. The guys at this AT&T wireless store always take care of me, helping me fix phones, giving me good advice. I visited the big AT&T store over by Northlake, not such good service.
So, if AT&T is the plan you want, I recommend the guys at the AT&T wireless store in downtown Decatur.
That store has offered consistently good customer service for as long as they’ve been open. They don’t try to sell you high or push extras on you.
That is an AT&T dealer (Wireless Etc.), just as Wireless Choice on E Ponce was a Verizon Wireless dealer. We also used to have a T-Mobile dealer (Estelle Networks) in the space now occupied by The Seen. Thankfully the “new” new AT&T requires dealers to prominently display their name, whereas the “old” new AT&T (and Cingular) allowed nearly full use of the company logo and only a tiny disclosure inside that this was a privately-owned dealer. Yet it’s clear that people still don’t understand the difference, as I’ve even heard people who were surprised that the “AT&T store” talked them out of an iPhone (when of course the iPhone is only sold through specific national retailers, not indirect dealers, so of course customers would be talked out of buying something the store doesn’t sell). If you are looking for a company-owned wireless store, we don’t have any in Decatur.