Cell Company expands
Saturday, August 26, 2006
US Cellular will finish taking over service in north-central Kansas from Cellular One this weekend, as six new cell towers go live in the region.
With the expansion, US Cellular serves 37 of the 105 counties in Kansas, including Lyon County. The company acquired Cellular One’s customers and operations in Kansas and Nebraska in 2005.
The announcement was made following a check presentation Wednesday at the David Traylor Zoo. As part of its expansion, the company donated $5,000 to Emporia Friends of the Zoo for educational programs.
Donna Logback, the company’s field marketing manager in Kansas, said the transition should be seamless for former Cellular One customers.
“The service will remain the same and we are dedicated to improving the network,” she said.
The company has also hired three more people for its two stores in Emporia, bringing the total to 10 employees. US Cellular has stores in the Flinthills Mall and at 1402 Industrial Road.
US Cellular is based in Chicago and is the sixth-largest wireless carrier in the country, serving more than 5.7 million customers in 26 states. It already has more than 90 cell towers in Kansas and added the six new ones to improve network quality in its newly acquired region.
The company gave more than $2 million to non-profit organizations in its service areas in 2005.
But US Cellular isn’t the only business making news in Emporia. In recent weeks, several businesses have opened, closed or moved.
Diamonds by Design
Diamonds by Design Emporia, located at 624 Commercial St. opened Friday. The owners are Dan and Marcia Brenner of Holton. The store’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The Brenners took over the site where the former Sigman Jewelers was located. Sigman Jewelers operated for 33 years in Emporia and closed last year following the retirement of Bob and Corky Sigman.
In addition to the Emporia store, the Brenners own one store each in Topeka and Holton.
Honeysuckle Lane
Honeysuckle Lane, the home interiors store inside the Flinthills Mall has moved to center court.
Last week, owner Debbie Harden moved the store to the site formerly occupied by Payless ShoeSource. Harden said she was looking to downsize the store’s inventory and liked the location better.
“We love it,” said Sharon Steinkuehler, store associate. “It’s great here. There’s better traffic flow. We get to see customers go by.
“And we were trying to downsize and cut inventory. This place is just cozier and homier.”
The Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon cutting at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 6.
During the holiday season, craft vendors will set up tables at the former Honeysuckle Lane site, instead of the mall hallways as in years past.
“This is just much better for us,” Steinkuehler said. “It’s hard for people to realize, but we’ve been here for three years and no one knows because we were at the far end of the hall.”
Rent-A-Center
Two months after its move, Rent-A-Center still has some boxes left to unpack at its new Industrial Road Location.
Formerly located at 2705 W. Highway 50, the store moved last June to the former ColorTyme property in the Plaza West shopping center. The shopping center is anchored by the Stage clothing store.
“It’s definitely an improvement,” said Tim Busey, the store’s manager. The old store was about 2,200 square feet, Busey said. The new one is about 4,000.
So far, he said, the store’s customers have kept up with the move. Rental business has been good in general, Busey said, although like everything else in Emporia lately, it has gone in cycles.
“The city has its busy days and its slow days and I think everyone moves to the same routine,” he said.
ColorTyme no longer has an Emporia location.