You might be unpleasantly surprised if you stop by your Verizon store to get help with a phone problem or ask questions about your bill. Verizon has been quietly closing stores “temporarily” without even so much as posting a handwritten note on the door.
Anyone who stops by the 2512 Battleground Ave. store in Greensboro, for instance, will find the doors locked and the shutters closed.
The only other indications of the store’s closure are the numerous sticky notes posted on the glass entrance door from UPS drivers and other carriers that were unable to make deliveries.
A call to the store gets a message stating that the communications company is closing some stores “temporarily” due to COVID-19 – though some who watched the workers close up shop and shut the place down last week say the exit looked pretty major.
One store clerk who works at a nearby business with a direct view of the Verizon store on Battleground said that last week there were several days of packing up and moving out. He said the only signs of life this week were two former employees who returned to the store, went in a side door, entered, and left about 20 minutes later.
As has often been the case during the pandemic, Google and other directory services can’t keep up with the sudden changes. Google was reporting on Thursday, Aug. 26 that the Verizon store on Battleground was open until 8 p.m., though in actuality one would need a blow torch to enter the building.
It’s not known if and when the store will open up. Many companies – Wells Fargo, for instance – have used the pandemic as a reason to close branches. Some of those closures will be permanent even after COVID-19 goes away (if it ever does).
Other businesses – including restaurants and small stores – have not been keeping consistent hours during this new latest phase of the pandemic.
Some late-night visitors to the 24-hour Walgreens around town have been met with notes stating that, except for the prescription window, the store was closed until the next morning.
Not everyone is upset about the Verizon store closure. Those who work at the T-Mobile store at 2511 Battleground – directly across the street – are probably delighted.
If/when a business such as a drugstore identifies a customer with an active case of Covid, their policy, as I understand it, is to shut down until the store can be thoroughly sanitized. That happened at the Walgreens at Lawndale & Pisgah Church Rd last year. No announcement, sign on the door only. They can afford to take no chances.
The Verizon store at Alamance Crossing mall in Burlington shut recently, too.
Good riddance
These difficult times make it easier for businesses to close, without hearing a lot of whining from someone who is offended.
My experience is that Verizon is the easiest utility to deal with. The worst is AT&T.