Verizon Wireless to open location on Marshall
Tim OConnor, the store manager, stands in the new Verizon Wireless store on Marshall Street, which is set to open Friday. OConnor, who has been in the wireless phone industry for more than 25 years, says the store will offer student discounts of up to 25 percent.
Verizon Wireless will open a branch on Marshall Street on Friday, offering student discounts and diversifying the storefronts on campus.
Tim O’Connor, the store manager and member of the wireless telephone industry for more than 25 years, said Syracuse University students would benefit greatly from the store being on Marshall Street and hopefully cause them to switch carriers to Verizon.
Marshall Street is known for its wide variety of restaurants. The addition of the store will offer a new option in the historical area and will help SU students who have Verizon with any cellphone problems, O’Connor said.
The store will officially open Friday, but there will be a grand opening ceremony at the start of spring semester with giveaways, special deals and discounts for all students and Syracuse residents.
As a die-hard SU sports fan, O’Connor said he is very excited about opening this store on campus.
Students who have Verizon as their provider will have the opportunity to receive 20 to 25 percent discounts at the Marshall Street location only, O’Connor said.
‘There is no better deal out there,’ O’Connor said.
He said he believes the discount will attract more SU students to the store and make Verizon more appealing to undergraduates on campus.
O’Connor said multiple people have come to him in the past two months saying that having a cellphone is vital in college. If students don’t have their cellphones with them in the morning, ‘you might as well say I didn’t get dressed,’ O’Connor said.
Katie Bachler, a freshman communication and rhetorical studies major, said she is excited about the store because it will provide her technological support for her phone if she needs it.
O’Connor said he is glad students feel this way and hopes he can be of service to the university that has been such a big part of his life.
So many students are using phones for email, Twitter and Facebook, and he said he believes this store will help those students get phones with the capabilities they need.
‘The cellphone has become something you cannot leave home without,’ O’Connor said.
Students are not the only ones who will benefit from this new store, O’Connor said. Workers from the nearby Syracuse hospitals can also take advantage of the new branch and the special discounts.
‘People, when they break their phones, need to get a new phone that day,’ O’Connor said.
Hospital workers will now have the same access students have, he said. More people will be attracted to Verizon because it is the largest wireless provider in the United States. It makes more sense to have a Verizon store than any other carrier, O’Connor said.
Amanda Mackoul, a sophomore television, radio and film major and a Verizon customer, said she is not as excited for the store as other students. Mackoul said the store will be useful if students need a phone, but for those who don’t need one, ‘it’s just another store opening up on Marshall Street.’
O’Connor said many people would benefit from the store no matter what they need. The store will carry cases, headphones and other accessories to go along with the phones.Workers and students will have many options to choose from when the branch opens, he said.
Two retailers located next to Verizon’s new storefront told O’Connor they are excited to see a cellphone carrier on Marshall Street because it will help differentiate the area. This new store will ‘change things up a bit’ and make it more appealing to everyone around the campus, they told O’Connor.
Said O’Connor: ‘You now have a more diverse group of retailers instead of just food establishments.’
Published on November 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Nick: nrcardon@syr.edu
