Mayor, Verizon Crew Celebrate New West End Store

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille was on hand Friday to celebrate the grand opening of the Wireless Center, an authorized Verizon Wireless retailer store, in Alexandria’s West End.

Euille said a new business opening is always a good sign.

“Certainly we are very happy that Verizon has chosen to open another store here inside the city limits of Alexandria, but more particular in the West End,” he said. “... This whole area is in the process of transitioning into the future as part of the Beauregard Small Area Plan, and as a result, over the next five, 10, 15, 20-plus years there’s going to be a lot of changes taking place albeit retail will remain, but there will be opportunities not only to expand and grow, but for other business to come in as well."

The store takes the place of the old Blockbuster Video in the Shops at Mark Center.

“And Verizon, I think, by coming in right now demonstrates how much they value the retail and consumer base here in the West End, and I think that’s a good thing,” Euille added.

Store employees on Friday distributed free phone cases, chargers and cleaning kits. They also held a $10 raffle to win bluetooth devices and free phones.

A company spokeswoman said the new store offers customers Verizon Wireless smartphones on four different mobile operating systems: Android, iOS, Windows and BlackBerry. The store also offers tablets, Jet Packs and other products and accessories, including a selection of 4G LTE devices for customers to browse and use to surf the web at fast speeds.

The store’s hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.