New London — When local Wireless Zone franchisees Scott Gladstone and Neil Ryan made the decision to double the space of their New London Mall store, they had no idea the move would coincide almost exactly with Verizon's decision to start selling unlimited-data plans for the first time.

Not that Gladstone and Ryan are complaining. The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut's Citizens of the Year in 2016 for their contributions to charitable causes, the longtime business partners said they are reaping the benefits of a new, expanded store and popular new plan that has brought back customers lost to T-Mobile, Sprint and other carriers offering unlimited data.

"We've seen a big spike," Gladstone said last week in a conference call. "A lot of people want unlimited even if it's a little extra a month."

The Wireless Zone store at New London Mall, previously in a small space not far from Home Goods, has just moved into the former Marvel Home Decorating store closer to Marshalls, which provides about 3,000 square feet in which customers can roam, checking out the latest devices. The store features new signage and a new look, including a dedicated space for business customers.

The bigger space opened with two additional employees, bringing the total to 11. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for noon on March 17.

Ryan said the partners' five franchises — including Groton, Killingly, Putnam and North Windham — are all getting new looks in the coming months, starting with Groton in April.

"It's not just cleaning up, it's like a completely new store," he said.

The stores will feature tables on which customers can try out various devices as well as see live demos. Televisions and interactive displays will be included, as well.

Gladstone said his franchises were among those lobbying Verizon to add unlimited data to the mix of options. People, he said, had a hard time calibrating their data usage in this era of digital everything.

"A lot of customers find it extremely crucial to have unlimited data," he said of the new plan, just launched last month. "It gives everyone the ability to budget x number of dollars a month."

Gladstone predicted Verizon's move, which he said was done carefully to make sure there was enough infrastructure in place to support unlimited data, would amplify the "cord-cutting" trend away from cable television toward "solely wireless" ways of obtaining information and entertainment.

"It's a major transition," he said.

l.howard@theday.com