
2degrees will open its first retail store tomorrow (above), situated in the Sylvia Park mall in Mt Wellington, Auckland.
A Newmarket, Auckland store and a Wellington CBD store will follow next week.
A 2degrees-owned Christchurch store is planned to open shortly with lots more stores in rollout to come.
Chief Sales Officer Mark Cleary said the store was modelled on a typical Kiwi backyard.
And, certainly, it reminds your correspondent of his garden, which features blue walls and plinths with LCD monitors and phones displayed on them.
The Sylvia Park store is owned and run by 2degrees, as will be stores in other major centre malls.
However, the company is also looking to recruit owner-operators (who must be willing to pay for stock and store fit out, but will pay not royalties or other kick-backs).
First independent dealer
2degrees' first authorised dealer, ChoiceMobile, has already broken cover. The mini-chain has offices in Auckland and Wellington, with Christchurch and Queenstown branches promised soon on on a we'll-come-to-you model.
Employ 200
The company has not said how many stores it will open, but did offer today that it anticipates creating 200 jobs in its directly-owned and dealer stores over the next 12 months as around 50 stores are opened.
A way to go
It's first store is a start, but 2degrees has a way to go match the competition.
Telecom - which had a major retail makeover last year as it launched XT - has recently opened four stores, taking its total of directly owned outlets to 32. The telco also has 86 partner stores through Orb and Leading Edge, five kiosks in high-traffic malls.
Vodafone owns 18 stores, with the balance of tis 130 branded outlets run by DigiMobile and First Mobile. Both telcos also sell through multi-channel retail partners.
While 2degrees looks primarily to recruit owner-operators, Vodafone is heading in the opposite direction.
Vodafone already owns 25% of DigiMobile and recently announced a deal to buy the 77-store FirstMobile - which will be run as a Vodafone operation by a returning Russell Hewitt.
NBR staff
Tue, 12 Oct 2010