Virgin Mobile Expands Retail Presence

Virgin Mobile UK has said that it is opening 12 further Virgin Mobile concessions in WHSmith High Street stores, creating 36 new jobs. These 12 new concessions take Virgin Mobile's presence in WHSmith High Street stores to 19, following a successful year-long trial of the shop-within-a-shop concept. WHSmith is a UK retailer of newspapers, magazines and music CDs.

All the WHSmith Virgin Mobile Stores are identical in format to the 92 outlets within Virgin Megastores, and are staffed by dedicated Virgin Mobile employees. All 12 new Virgin Mobile Stores will be open by December 1st.

Graeme Hutchinson, Sales and marketing Director at Virgin Mobile, said: "The trial of Virgin Mobile Stores within WHSmith went brilliantly and we're getting great connections. We're delighted to be expanding and opening 12 more stores together, as part of our next phase of growth. The new Virgin Mobile Stores are in some of WHSmith's biggest and most successful outlets, and we're excited about developing our relationship with WHSmith further in the future."

Ian Sanders, Head of Commercial Development, WHSmith added, "The Virgin Mobile concessions are proving to be very popular with our customers. Following the trial, we have identified a second wave of stores where we believe the introduction of the concession will further enhance our customer offer and we look forward to working with Virgin Mobile to ensure these are a success."

Posted to the site on 21st November 2005