Retail Presence
Since its inception, Virgin Mobile Canada has its own dedicated retail kiosks. Such booths are usually located in the middle of a mall hall, but can sometimes be found in its own corner or built as a mini-store.
Following Bell Mobility's complete acquisition of Virgin Mobile Canada in 2009, the company slowly abandoned its own Solo Mobile brand in order to prioritize its new Virgin brand. Stores that were previously dedicated to Solo, such as the one in Rideau Centre, now belong to Virgin.
Bell Canada's purchase of all The Source electronics stores allowed the company to sell its mobile brands inside most but not all of these stores. Sales began on January 4, 2010, after the chain's exclusivity agreement with Rogers Communications expired at the end of 2009. Mobile brands sold currently include those of Bell and Virgin. While Solo was previously sold as well, this ended on October 2011 when Bell discontinued sales of that brand and requested that all Solo products be returned to the company.
Virgin products cannot be purchased at Bell corporate stores, and vice versa. The two brands remain separate, despite sharing a common owner.
On June 10, 2011, Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson and Glee star Cory Monteith celebrated the opening of Virgin Mobile Canada's first street-front store, located in Montreal. A few days later, on June 17, a second Virgin store was built inside the MuchMusic headquarters in Toronto. This store is called "Virgin Mobile at Much". The third retail store was opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Read more about this topic: Virgin Mobile Canada
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