Wireless Zone
“Customers expect businesses to have good customer service nowadays. You have to give them outrageous service that blows their minds, if you want be successful and grow,” said David Robles, who along with his partner Mike Jacobs, owns the new Wireless Zone store in Patterson Commons Shopping Center along Route 22.
It is the duos’ fourth store and the second they have opened in the past year. They also have locations in Brewster, Mahopac and Mount Kisco. The newest store is over 3,000sqft in size, occupying a former Blockbuster location, and is the largest Verizon retail store in the Northeast.
Wireless Zone sells Verizon Wireless voice and data products. It offers a wide variety of wireless phones, smartphones, accessories and services at or below online prices.
“If you want a customer to come back, you have to create an experience for them,” Robles said in reference to what makes Wireless Zone different from other cellphone retailers. “When you come to one of our stores there is virtually no wait time. We typically have four or five employees, who are trained in every aspect of the business—technical, customer service and sales, ready to help you.”
In addition the salespeople also print this cellphone numbers on their business cards to that they can assist their customers even after the sale is completed. “Our employees let the customers know that if they have any problems or questions to text them, rather than call customer service, and they will call the person right back,” Robles said.
Part of customer service is having enough inventory in stock to meet the demands of those who walk through the doors. “Since Wireless Zone is a Verizon Wireless Premiere Retailer we get products such as the iPhone 4 before other stores,” Robles said. “We also keep our stores fully stocked. After the hurricane we sold dozens of mobile hotspots and we were able to do that because we had them in stock.”
The stores also have live demos set up so customers can touch and handle a phone or other device before they decide which one to purchase. The stores also offer two types of insurance plans, as compared to only having one option online, which according to Robles allows customers another way to save money.
“The alternative insurance plan we offer can save a customer $100 over a two-year period,” Robles said. “That is something that they cannot get by going online.”
The Patterson store opened its doors on Oct. 15 and without any promotion the store was busy with customers all day. “People just saw the signs from the road and came in,” Robles said.
The location was calculated move by the partners. After 14 years in the cellphone business together, beginning with a kiosk in Mount Kisco’s Manufacturer’s Outlet Center in 1997, they have learned having the right location is just as essential as having incredible customer service.
“When it comes to looking at locations it is not necessarily about demographics,” said Robles. “What I look for is a place where I can get huge signage by a road that has a lot of traffic.”
A location on Route 22 always seemed like a great idea for Robles, but after he found out that Blockbuster was closing its Patterson location he seized the opportunity with the encouragement of Verizon.
“When the former Blockbuster became available, we moved very aggressively to get the deal done and everything fell into place,” Robles said. Just to make sure though Robles stood outside a few times a day with a stopwatch counting cars to estimate how many vehicles would be passing by the store on any given day.
The store was ready to open in six weeks. “It was meant to be. We are very excited about this store,” Robles said.
Currently the partners have no other plans of expanding, but Robles admits he is always open to a good opportunity.
The grand opening celebration will be on Friday, Oct. 28. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held that morning at 11 a.m. For more information call 845-319-6280 or visit wirelesszom.com/Patterson.
