It’s the end of an era, the Crazy John’s brand will cease trading at the end of today with some stores closing for good whilst others will be re-branded as Vodafone stores before re-opening. The re-branding and closure of Crazy John’s stores was announced last month by parent company Vodafone who advised it was a move towards streamlining their retail brand presence into a single cohesive brand.
The Crazy John’s brand has been around with us since 1991 when John Ilhan opened his first store in Melbourne as a Telstra Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) before switching to Vodafone in 2007. The death of John Ilhan in 2007 saw control of the company pass to his wife Patricia who sold her share of the company to Vodafone in 2008. When the closures were announced, Patricia was quoted by Gizmodo as saying she was “very disappointed” by the closure but that the matter was “a matter for Vodafone”.
Vodafone does intend to redeploy as many retail staff as possible from Crazy Johns stores to work in Vodafone stores. Service for Crazy John’s customers will continue without interruption with service available through the Vodafone store network, as well as online, through customer care on 132299 and via the mobile MyAccount service.
The Crazy John’s Twitter account noted yesterday that they have one full day of trade left with bargains to be had in-store till close of business today or until 12pm tomorrow.
Just one full day of trade left for Crazy John’s! Pop in store or online before 12pm Wed to secure a hot summer deal bit.ly/12BKpFd
— Crazy John’s (@CrazyJohns) February 18, 2013
The Crazy John’s brand has certainly been a mainstay of the Australian Mobile telecommunications landscape for a long time and we at Ausdroid are sorry to see them go.
Does this mean I can get out of my contract early and go to a provider who has reception?
Anyone noticed Vodafone has closed a lot of stores recently? Three shut in the Wollongong area – replaced by crappy ‘Vodafone Select’ kiosks.