Suburban Success Story

For a young DME company based in Stockbridge, Ga., location and careful demographic profiling have been the foundation for rapid growth.

New housing developments are springing up in the small town located in Henry County, 25 miles south of Atlanta, virtually overnight. Based on a December 2003 demographic profile, the county is the third fastest-growing county in the United States and the fastest-growing county in Georgia.

“A lot of people are moving to the South and working in Atlanta, but they don't want to live in the city,” explains Darren Tarleton, president and CEO of Mobility Warehouse.

The idea for Mobility Warehouse came from the owners of a local Stockbridge pharmacy. The four owners of Moye's Pharmacy, a five-store, 28-year-old Henry County business and household name throughout the area, called Tarleton in October 2001 to manage the chain's DME department. “Inside the pharmacy, DME was not doing well,” Tarleton says. “It was a liability. At a pharmacy, you don't have a lot of room, so we sat down and came up with the concept for Mobility Warehouse.”

The store in Stockbridge features a 3,000 square-foot showroom. The location inspires an interactive inventory with a mobility test track in the middle of the floor. “[The track] is designed kind of like Indianapolis [Motor Speedway] with a straightaway and four sharp turns,” Tarleton says.

“When you go into your typical DME dealer, the showrooms typically aren't large enough or are too crowded to test drive the products. We want people to touch and feel and drive several chairs so they can tell which one feels the best. At my competitors' [stores], if you want to test drive you have to go out to the parking lot, where the safety factor becomes an issue. And if the weather's not good, it's not possible.”

Immediately after Mobility Warehouse opened in December 2002, the partners at Moye's saw a 30 percent increase in monthly sales of DME, and with the grand opening of a second store in April, Tarleton expects that figure to rise another 25 percent.

Networking with a Trusted Name

The pharmacy is now Mobility Warehouse's parent company — and its primary referral source. Tarleton says that many of his customers have grown to trust the Moye's name and, because of that familiarity, have become Mobility Warehouse customers. In each branch of Moye's, Tarleton also keeps models of some chairs with a display sign that invites customers to visit the DME store.