By Sara Gilbert Frederick
Special to The Free Press
MANKATO —
The Chandlers — Rick and Teri and son Nate —moved to Mankato from Rapid City, S.D., five years ago with a business plan in hand: to open R-U Wireless, an independent cell phone retail store connected to industry giant Alltel. Their market research had shown that Mankato would be a good place to locate because, at the time, it was primarily served by Midwest Wireless.
Little did they know that within a year, Alltel would purchase Midwest Wireless and, because of complex FCC regulations, Alltel had to sell R-U Wireless to Unicel. Nor did they know that within the first five years of owning their companion businesses — R-U Wireless and Think! Toner & Ink — they would work with four different cell phone companies. But that, they’ve realized, is the nature of the business.
“We’re a perfect example of rolling with the punches,” Rick Chandler says. “That’s what we have to do because things change quickly in this industry.”
Currently, R-U Wireless offers Unicel (which is expected to transition to AT&T early next year) and T-Mobile service, as well as Direct TV, Dish Network and Wild Blue Internet, a satellite Internet service provider. Think! Toner & Ink sells original brand-name ink and toner products (including hard-to-find brands) and specializes in recycled cartridges; they also offer a credit for returned cartridges. But the Chandlers know better than to think that all of that will stay settled for long.
“We are constantly in search of the next thing,” Rick Chandler says. “We’re not 100 percent sure what that is, but we’re pretty sure we won’t stay exactly like this forever.”
MN Valley Business: How did you decide to pair the cell phone and toner/ink businesses?
Teri Chandler: We started just with the cell phone business, but we knew from the beginning that we would need to diversify because you can never be sure what’s going to take off. Our plan was to go into the ink and toner business as well.
MVB: Do the two businesses target different customers, or is it the same audience?
TC: It’s definitely different people. The ink and toner end tends to be mostly business driven, but the cell phones are really just individuals who walk in. Sometimes one leads to the other, though — someone might come in with a cell phone question and then say, ‘Oh, you sell ink, too?’ That happens.
MVB: Have you found that one or the other of the businesses is busier than the other?
Rick Chandler: They’re pretty even, although Think! Toner & Ink is definitely more stable for us.
The cell phones can be very busy, but they can also be pretty slow.
Nate Chandler: Our mornings are busy with ink and toner because that’s when businesses get going and settle in to order their supplies.
The cell phone crowd doesn’t get going very early; they start stirring in the afternoon and evening.
RC: The two balance each other out pretty well.
MVB: How have the three of you balanced things out?
TC: I run the ink and toner, Nate does the cell phones, and Rick oversees the business side, the financials. We didn’t plan it that way, necessarily, but it all fell into place and it’s been a nice fit.
MVB: How has it been working with your parents, Nate? Do you think of them as equals or as your bosses?
NC: We’re all equals here. I call them Rick and Teri instead of mom and dad because it’s more professional.
It doesn’t feel at all odd, although people think it’s strange outside of work when I call them that.
RC: I don’t even notice it, actually.
MVB: Do the three of you find that you are able to have any flexibility as you run the business?
RC: It really isn’t any different from any other full-time job, except that we can manipulate our schedules without having to check with a supervisor. But as for flexibility, not really.
The business owns us more than we own it right now. We hope that won’t always be the case. We do make it work so that we can have time off.
If Teri and I go on vacation, Nate has a tough week — but when he’s gone, it’s tough on us too because he does so much of everything. … But if he gets tickets to a Twins game, for example, we do what we have to make it work for him. He deserves that.
MVB: What separates you from the competition in this intense and rapidly changing industry?
TC: Customer service. They know what they’re getting from us, and we’ll hold their hands from start to finish.
We hope that people still care about that. They can get cell phones anywhere, but if you buy a phone at big-box stores, they can’t always answer your questions. They don’t know everything about that phone. If you come here, we’ll answer those questions, no matter where you bought it.
We’ll take care of everyone because we hope to gain that business down the road.
