Rapid growth for Verizon franchise

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jay Williams, 47, worked for nearly a decade selling Cingular phones to businesses.

In August, the Cartersville resident opened a franchise of Wireless Zone in Canton and is now an agent for Verizon Wireless.

The store is only the second Georgia outpost of the privately held, Middletown, Conn.-based company that has been rapidly franchising throughout the eastern United States.

It will open a third store in Georgia by the end of the year, seeking to steal some of the thunder of Cellular Sales, another exclusive Verizon agent with about 20 metro Atlanta stores.

These types of stores are authorized by Verizon and are usually in suburban and exurban locations, while Verizon has its own stores in more urban areas, said Sean Fitzgerald, Wireless Zone’s vice president of franchise development. Unlike Best Buy or Radio Shack, the company offers service only from one provider.

The company needs franchisees to expand quickly in Georgia — at a time when credit is tough and the retail environment is, too.

Fitzgerald said the company has grown from 240 stores two years ago to about 400 this year, and from $142 million in revenue in 2006 to $201 million last year. Franchisees need about $125,000 to open a franchise, he said.

Knoxville, Tenn.-based Cellular Sales, which also franchises its concept, had more than $200 million in revenue in 2008, with about 230 stores.

Williams said he wanted to be his own boss but stay in the wireless field.

“It’s an exciting industry to be in and I liked the success I had in it,” said Williams. “There’s always new technology that is coming out and it’s something I feel like will continue to grow.”

He believes it’s “almost recession proof. People are going to have their cellphones.”

According to CTIA The Wireless Association, a Washington-based trade group, 87 percent of the U.S. population owned a cellphone at the end of 2008, up from 69 percent in 2005.