And so it begins....
As I walked past a nearby Alltel Wireless store today, I happened to notice that the store was completely closed. "Odd," I thought, after walking by yesterday to the sight of hustle and bustle within the tiny building. On the front door, a bold sign answered my question:
"This Alltel Wireless location is closed - please visit us at our new location inside of Verizon Wireless."
The message went on to list the address of the Verizon store they had relocated to (which also happened to be a store I frequent quite often), and so I decided to go visit and have a look at how they were moving forward with the integration. As I was driving, I was thinking to myself "I didn't realize the integration was taking place until the summer..."
As it turns out, in certain markets, Alltel stores have closed and relocated their operations into Verizon stores in a sort of "store within a store" concept. Upon walking in, you see the typical Verizon products and services - red, red, and more red - until you reach the back of the store. The wall suddenly turns to blue, and the familiar Alltel logo appears, along with their products. Devices are out on the sales floor, and Alltel plan brochures were neatly arranged. "It's all part of an effort to welcome Alltel customers and get them accustomed to the Verizon culture," someone told me.
According to sources, the completion of the merger is still slated for the summer.
