Q&A: Virgin Mobile CMO Ron Faris on Retail

This week, Virgin Mobile is opening its first branded retail outlet in Chicago's upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. Unlike most wireless retail stores, the Virgin Mobile store presents a relaxed atmosphere, with comfortable chairs for customers to sit in while employees activate their new phones, charging stations, a phonograph where people are encouraged to play records (supplied by a neighborhood record store down the street). The feel, according to Ron Faris, Virgin Mobile's chief marketing officer, is more akin to that neighbor than of another big-box retailer further down the street.