The former Marine Corps helicopter mechanic who started repairing and selling watches at Independence Mall more than two decades ago is opening a second location of his business in Porters Neck.

Jeffrey Cody, owner of Times @ Hand, a kiosk at the mall since 1994, hopes to begin welcoming customers at a Times @ Hand store at Bayshore Commons in August.

The second Times @ Hand location will be in 1,600 square feet of space at the Wal-Mart-anchored shopping center, next to the GEICO insurance office announced last year, Cody said Tuesday.

Cody, who lives in Castle Hayne, said he and his family have been thinking about the expansion for a long time, but nothing had ever “spoken” to them until they saw the Bayshore Commons spot, 8107 Market St.

“It just seems like a place that’s going to see a lot of activity in the near future,” Cody said, pointing out the numerous restaurants opening in the center. “It just seemed to me like a perfect location to see traffic that might start to approach what we see at our kiosk in the mall.”

Currently, that traffic is high for the one full-time employee and six part-time workers at the mall kiosk, Cody said.

“We’re like a McDonald’s at lunch time. We’re constantly busy from 10 in the morning until about 6 o’clock at night,” he said.

While the mall Times @ Hand will continue to operate, the new location will allow Cody’s employees to focus even more on customers who want to buy watches along with providing more space to repair watches more quickly.

The business specializes in quartz watch repair but can also work on mechanical time pieces, Cody said.

Expansion plans that go along with the new store include reaching out to small jewelry stores across the state and beyond who might want Times @ Hand to provide watch repair services, Cody said.

He said he’s noticed that many of his local watch buyers have needs that are specific to the Cape Fear region.

“What we sell in Wilmington is water-resistant, sports-type watches for the most part,” Cody said. “Our biggest seller is Casio G-SHOCK, which is super popular all across the country, and then we sell Luminox, which is a military-style watch.”  

Cody spent 10 years as a helicopter mechanic at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, where a friend of his had a business similar to Times @ Hand, before learning how to work on watches and run his own business.

Now that he’s opening a second location at Bayshore Commons, he sees possibilities for further expansion, Cody said.

“We figure if we can make that work, then we’ll get serious about possibly franchising down the road. It is a big need,” he said.

Garry Silivanch, partner in Eastern Carolinas Commercial Real Estate, represented Bayshore Commons in the lease of the space for Times @ Hand.