[ghaff]

The wireless carriers are the other industry that have retail branches of a size seemingly out of all proportion to what they need to transact business. The contrast to many locations overseas, especially in Asia, where cellphones are often sold over a small counter in an electronics store is striking. I assume it's some combination of the big branches acting as advertising and being part of what's effectively a sort of arms race between carriers.

[pyre]

They also upsell you on third-party accessories for your phone.

[ghaff]

I assume that those are pretty minor compared to getting the contract though.

[dredmorbius]

I don't know. Electronics retailers are getting few and far between. Some of that's moved to drugstores or hardware stores, some to office supply stores. But the most obvious place to go for many phone accessories is a phone store, particularly if you need it right now. Otherwise, Amazon seems to be the retailer of choice. I suppose Target and Walmart also carry some items, and of course, Apple.

What surprised me in a recent road trip was the selection of electronics-related items for sale at highway stops, particularly Loves. If it goes with an Android or Apple device, or CB radio, or uses USB power, there's a surprising selection of items. Prices are not unreasonable either.

This is a fairly high-volume market, with specialised interests, and a captive (or at least easily captured) market. The one thing Loves hasn't sorted out is that free WiFi trumps paid, by a long shot. After a few highway stops, you figure this out pretty quickly.