AT&T Authorized Retailer

Bought something here ages ago… March 2013. So my review is a bit late, but I do remember why I stopped by.
They were having a BOGO sale and so I stopped by. I picked up an iSound Fire Speaker and iPhone charger. I really didn’t need the charger, but I did want a small portable speaker and knew that the exact model I wanted was about same price on Amazon. So thanks to their BOGO sale I essentially got a free phone charger.
Unless they’re having a BOGO sale I wouldn’t waste any time stopping by here. The selection is nothing special and the associates are okay.

This location is billed on the AT&T website as an «AT&T Authorized Retailer». I don’t know what the difference is between that and an AT&T store. I just know this is the location I happened to go into when I was on the market for a new phone because we were physically closer to it than the one literally like two blocks away (also in Belmar).
It had been something like seven years since I’d been into a phone store. I’d been eligible for an upgrade for five years the lady told me when she looked up my account, coupled with the two-​year contract I was on before becoming eligible. What can I say? I was a working student (read: on a tight budget), and for the longest time didn’t care about having a smartphone. Part of me still doesn’t, but I like that I can take pictures of the dog and send them to people. ANYWAY.
Since graduating and becoming a «real» adult with a «real» job, I’m more able to double my monthly phone bill. I didn’t want to, but them’s the breaks. Ironically, my «real» job refuses to recognize the fact that I’m an adult who can manage my time and internet usage, so they block a bunch of stuff at work (often labeling sites as «tasteless» [don’t just me, WebSense!!]). Lastly, right around the time I got fed up with my work’s lame internet filter, my now-​previous phone started shutting off on its own. I took that as a sign and went to this location to join the 21^st century and get a smartphone.
Again, it’d been a while since I’d been in a cell phone store. It would appear as though non-​smartphones aren’t even available for purchase at this point. Just an observation. It would also appear as though used car sales people have flocked to the cell phone business. At least one sales person to this store. Yipes. It was ragingly high pressure sales, which I didn’t really appreciate. I knew I wanted a phone, but I also knew I needed a day or so to think it over. Especially because it was so much dang money up front (monthly bills aside).
That said, I kind of got the vibe that the lady trying to sell me a phone (and a tablet… and a case… and accessories) was irritated with me that it was past closing time and she didn’t close on a sale. But that’s not really my problem. Besides, I came back the next night to get the phone after all. Even though I could have saved like $ 50 on Amazon, I wanted the phone when I wanted it (more irony: I’d waited seven years but I couldn’t wait another week for a phone to arrive in the mail…), so I got it from here.
It’s kind of difficult to really rate a store because I don’t really believe that any other store would be much different. No matter the carrier, no matter the phone — Always Be Closing, Glengarry. Still, the lady who sold the phone was nice in her own way, and I wouldn’t have a problem going back if I needed anything else. So… see y’all in seven years, I reckon.