Phone Store in James Bay

By Jack Krayenhoff

OK, let me make one thing clear first: if you're not yet middle-aged, you may well want to skip this piece. It's about a new place in James Bay that sells cell phones with electronic wizardry - the sort of stuff you grew up with and know all about already. But the rest of us are still trying to learn.

In the centre of town (I mean James Bay, of course), on Menzies next to Coast Capital Savings, a telephone store opened, about a year ago - a new thing in our community.

It is run by Brad Styles and Cindy Pendergast, who are partners in life as well as in their business, Pacific Telephone.

Brad has been working as a land-line dealer for Bell Canada for ten years. These land-lines are not sold as residential phones; they serve businesses, and they do a great deal more than just enable people to phone in. To a lay person it all sounds impressive but also very complex.

However, there is no need to pursue this arm of Pacific Telephone any further, for it is quite separate from the cell phone business. These land lines are still sold by them, but that is not what the James Bay store is all about. It is about selling cell phones to individuals, and, Brad stresses, to service them. "Last year we took the plunge", he says. "We decided to open a retail store. We live in James Bay ourselves, and we thought, what better place? There is no place here where you can get cell phones, and James Bay is really changing. There are lots of young people here these days, and they know what they can do with their iPhones. Of course we can sell them all the bells and whistles they might want. But people middle age and older - they need help."

Cindy, who has been helping a customer while Brad was saying this, adds, "Exactly - that's what we are all about. This lady who was in here just now was a perfect example. She has never had a cell phone. She does not really know what they do, for instance that you can put your home number on it, so you don't need your land line any more. One elderly lady wanted a cell phone just to carry with her so if she had a fall or got into some trouble she could dial 911. Such people need only the simplest and cheapest model, and we won't try to sell them anything more. We don't pressure people. And most middle-aged people don't know how to send text messages, or that you can send pictures that way for free. We teach people all that"

Brad adds, "If you go to the mall to buy a phone, they're liable to put in your number, then send you on your way and say 'Good luck!'. But we are in our late forties/early fifties, and we had to learn all that ourselves. We sell you not only a cell phone but with it the support you need. We are here all day for you."