Hanging out with Virgin Mobile at their “flagship” Chicago store launch
by Antonio Wells
Jul 19, 2012 5:53 PM –
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If you haven’t read me claim it plenty of times, Chicago is my hometown and I was honored to attend the launch of the flagship store opening in the trendy Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago today. The Virgin folks broke down their goals of being a wireless carrier that was all about “lifestyle” and “culture” while connecting with customers. “We like to think of ourselves as cellphone store 2.0, not like traditional stores that cell you a phone and you never want to come back to, we want you to come back and enjoy a chill environment” as I summarize the words of Ron Faris, VM’s head of Brand & Integrated Marketing.
Taking flair from uber billionaire founder, Richard Branson, they envision the store to be a local hang out spot for customers to come in and learn more about mobile apps for their phones via numerous hosted workshops and private events (I can say confident AndroidTapp.com will be hosting a few there so stay tuned!), check & test out devices, maybe bum a charge, listen to some tunes via their Virgin Mobile Live music network and of course purchase a contract-free phone or hotspot. They plan to open 14 more stores in the city and take the same vibe and store model to other cities.