By Mario Toneguzzi

Florida-based Kix Mobile has launched an aggressive expansion into the Canadian market starting with the Greater Toronto Area.

The company buys, sells, trades mobile devices, provides replacement Xchange-Repair™, sells accessories and offers prepaid phone plans.

John Goodish, vice-president of Mississauga-based Franchise 360, which is spearheading the expansion into the Canadian market, said Kix Mobile plans to open 20 new stores in the GTA in the near future.

It also has plans to expand up to about 300 locations throughout Canada. He said there’s no time frame on that expansion.

The company’s appeal is that if someone breaks or damages their cellphone Kix Mobile will be able to sell them a refurbished phone with a warranty at a much lower cost than repairing a damaged phone and within a few minutes of purchase.

“What we do is exchange SIM cards, transfer over data and away you go,” said Goodish.

He said the company plans to open its first location in the Toronto area in June.

“We’re actively dealing with the real estate proponent of it now. Securing leases. We expect to have at least one unit open, hopefully more than one, in June of this year,” said Goodish.

“We think we can have 20 locations in the GTA in probably 12 to 18 months.”

Goodish said Kix Mobile locations would be in shopping malls, in strip plazas and a store within a larger store. Stores could be in set store units in a larger shopping mall or as a kiosk.

“It’s massively convenient for the consumer and it’s cost effective. It’s much more efficient,” said Goodish of why consumers are attracted to the company.

“Ninety per cent of adults in urban centres have cellphones. If our cellphone goes down, we’ve all got a problem right. I actually say there goes my brain. You can’t be without them in this day and age. This is just a unique opportunity to keep consumers on the go and keep them in touch.”

Goodish said Franchise 360 has been researching new concepts to bring to its local market and realized that Kix Mobile was something the Canadian market was missing.

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In a news release Paul Wolbert, CEO of Kix Mobile, said: “Canada is a wide-open market opportunity for Kix Mobile and we are extremely excited to be expanding our brand there. This is the first step of our goal in developing approximately 300 stores or more throughout the country. John and his team have a wealth of franchising knowledge and we are confident of the team’s ability to grow the brand throughout the GTA and beyond.”

Kix Mobile was founded in 2016.

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com

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