This afternoon, I was trapped at a nearby mall for several hours, waiting while I had new brake pads put on my car at Sears. (Yeah, I know, but c’mon, Sears can’t screw that up, can they?)
The mall is a smallish 1960s-era Simon mall, with three anchors about 80 stores. It’s still a well-patronized shopping center, but it’s seen better days, and the tenant mix leans towards urban clothing stores; no Gap, Banana Republic, J. Crew or many other mall staples. However, I counted TEN cell phone stores; eleven if Radio Shack was thrown into the mix. I’ve noticed the same phenomenon at all but the most upscale malls; there will be anywhere from 10 to 20 stores and kiosks that sell nothing but cell phones. How can so many cell phone stores survive in one place? Are people really heading to the mall to swap their phones every year, or it it something else?
Well, in the mall I work at, we get to listen to the barker-like sales pitch of one cell-phone saleman all day long. When people aren’t yelling at him that their plan costs more than they were told, they are buying new phones to replace ones they stopped paying for at other cell phone stores. Or they are paying their bill. Since this palce seems a bit shady, I don’t know how they keep 4 mature men employed full time.
One of our former co-workers works at a more reputable stand farther down the mall…they actually wear blue uniforms, and are very corporatey…but there are always at least five employees stuffed inside this little booth, surrounded by a crowd of customers. When she comes down to our store to use the bathroom tomorrow, I’ll ask her about their business and report back. But from things she’s mentioned in the past, many people come there to pay their phone bill.