Even in a down economy, the mobile phone market is ringing.
Wireless Zone, the nation’s largest independent Verizon Wireless franchise, has struck a sweet spot peddling something for which people are still willing to open their wallets.
Mostly concentrated in the northeast, Wireless Zone has identified Metro Detroit as its Midwestern hub because of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc.’s significant market share here, said Sean Fitzgerald, Wireless Zone’s vice president for franchise development. The franchise, originally known as The Car Phone Store when it opened in Middletown, Conn., in 1988, expects to have 400 stores by the end of the year, with close to 20 in Michigan.
“People have no problem spending discretionary dollars on a wireless device,” said Debbie Peterson, who owns Wireless Zone franchises in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Jackson. “It’s part of who they are.”
The mobile phone market is expanding as more people cancel their landline service and become increasingly dependent upon mobile devices for everything from texting to television shows. A 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that consumers value their cell phone above all other personal devices, including cars or computers. More.
Photo: Todd McInturf / The Detroit News.