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.
Tarleton and his partners used their knowledge of the area to open their second store in January. Located in Fayetteville in neighboring Fayette County, the second Mobility Warehouse, also with a test track, now serves one of the most affluent areas in the South. Once again, Tarleton turned to demographic research, which revealed that the area was an ideal spot for a DME business. According to data from the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, per capita income in Fayette County is $31,922, and the average household income is $90,000. Tarleton adds that 10.6 percent of people in Henry County are older than 55; in Fayette County, that number is 12.7 percent.
“Fayetteville is in the most affluent county in Georgia, and that's why we chose to locate there,” Tarleton says, adding that other providers have noted the numbers, too. “Just recently there's been an influx of DME providers in the Fayetteville area, but they only provide certain aspects of DME.”
Wide Open Spaces
Along with favorable demographics, Tarleton attributes the company's immediate success to having large showrooms. At Moye's Pharmacy, the DME department carried only lift chairs and a couple of scooters. Now Tarleton offers 16 lift chairs, eight power wheelchairs and 10 scooters at one location alone. “In a large showroom, the customer can touch the products, feel them, test them and read all they can about them.
“One woman had come in on her way home from a pharmacy where she had ordered a chair for her husband based on the price,” Tarleton says. “Because she couldn't see the chair, she had no idea she'd ordered a product designed for a 5-foot-2 woman, not a 6-foot man. She canceled that order and became my customer.”
Tarleton says the company's goals are to continue expanding and to grow into an HME one-stop shop. “I'd love to be the Wal-Mart of DME,” he says. The company has recently added oxygen to its product mix and is working toward expanding into diabetes products. But for now, the rapid growth and the addition of a new branch after being open just one year are enough to sustain the fledgling business in a booming town.
“I had a customer come in and tell us that when we opened, our competitor was cussing and calling us every name in the book,” Tarleton says. “That leads me to believe we're doing the right thing.”
