Monday, July 6, 2009

CLEVELAND—The office supply wizard who grew OfficeMax from an idea into a billion-dollar company before selling it five years ago is using his entrepreneurial skills to a develop a new chain of wellness stores set to open in September.

Max-Wellness prototype stores will open in Westlake, Ohio, and a Cleveland suburb, as well as in Naples, Fla., according to published reports. A national rollout of 10 to 15 more stores will follow in 2010, ramping up to 30 to 50 store openings annually by 2012, officials said. Complementary Internet and catalog operations will launch, as well.

The stores will carry everything from mobility devices, incontinence and wound products to vitamins and quality-of-life products—or QLPs, as the company calls them.

The concept is the brainchild of Michael Feuer, who in 2003 sold his chain of OfficeMax stores to Boise Cascade Corp. for $1.5 billion. Feuer is partnering with Jared Florian, who owns six national mail-order catalogs, to found and fund the new project.

Feuer, who until December was bound by a five-year, non-compete clause, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he has been looking for “the next great retail product,” and he believes he has found it with the concept of the wellness stores.

“I’m a big believer in low-hanging fruit, giving people something before they know they want it,” he told the newspaper. “I did it before and I want to see if I can do it again.”

According to the company’s fact sheet, Max-Wellness is banking on the demographics that show 100 million consumers over the age of 50 are out there with $8 trillion to spend—and many want to spend those bucks on products that help them feel better and live longer.

With the intent of capturing that demographic and creating a leading one-stop wellness store, Max-Wellness will be structured as what the company calls a “mini superstore.”

It will feature, the company said in its fact sheet, “in one convenient location all of the devices, lotions and potions typically found in a drug store, combined with a myriad of products, both basic and unique, to enable Americans to live well and stay well.”

Officials also promised that Max-Wellness “will add drama, theater, organization and educational information to the in-store, online and catalog equation, bringing products to life by translating what they are into how they can provide a solution.”

Personnel will be “professionally dressed and trained” and will be able to use technology to answer consumers’ health care questions.

“This will create an environment where Max-Wellness will quickly be established and recognized as the go-to store for better living,” the fact sheet says.