THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240277
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: BY CAROLE O'KEEFFE, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
CELLULAR TELEPHONE service providers have discovered Franklin and increased their retail operations here.
Not too long ago, Contel was the only retail cellular presence in this western Tidewater community, selling through Audio Showroom at Franklin Plaza Shopping Center. But Audio Showroom has switched to Sprint Cellular.
Not to be outdone, Contel has expanded to Franklin from its Suffolk office into space at Southampton Shopping Center.
``We found we had a large customer base there,'' Sarah J. Beale, a Contel marketing manager, said from the Suffolk office. ``A lot of our customers in Suffolk were from Franklin. We wanted to give them better service - take payments, answer questions about bills, help them purchase equipment - so they wouldn't have to drive so far.''
Also, Contel wanted to directly serve its Franklin and Courtland customers rather than continuing to work through a distributor, she said.
``We jumped at the opportunity to offer customers Sprint service,'' said Charles G. Gatten, president of Audio Showroom, a Franklin fixture for 21 years.
Both Sprint and Contel have towers in the Franklin/Southampton area designed to provide strong signals for cellular phone users.
Contel had an office in Suffolk's Oak Ridge area since 1990. Initially, the office was sales support staff only but had so much walk-in traffic, officials decided to open a retail location this past summer on Route 460 near the log-home model.
``Our business has quadrupled in Suffolk since we opened here,'' Beale said. ``We wanted to offer Franklin customers the same opportunities.''
Gatten says he switched to Sprint to provide customers low roaming charges and monthly rates and free weekend service. ``Free weekends is something our customers wanted,'' he said.
Audio Showroom sells, installs, programs and services cellular equipment. ``They don't have to be sent around. We do it right here,'' he said.
Customers are favoring portable or pocket phones at the moment. They run from $19.95 for a ``very basic bag phone to $399 for the smallest pocket phone. And we have many in between,'' Gatten said.
Some cellular phones are slightly thinner, narrower and longer than a deck of playing cards.
Contel is the largest cellular service provider in the state with ``more than 16,000 square miles of cellular service,'' Beale said. One special thing Beale feels Contel can offer customers is focused service.
``We are not selling other appliances like many distributers,'' she said. ``Our employees are focused only on cellular.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Sarah J. Beale, a Contel marketing manager, visits the new outlet
in the Southampton Shopping Center.
Holly Edwards works at the Audio Showroom, which has switched to
Sprint Cellular. The store, at Franklin Plaza Shopping Center,
formerly was a Contel Cellular dealer.
by CNB