Like so many operations in the apparel industry, Superior Uniform Sales is a family business through and through. But not every company has been as comprehensively involved in so many different facets of the trade over so many years as the Darahs of Toledo, Ohio.

Established in 1983 by cousins Bil and Louis Darah, CEO and president respectively, Superior Uniform Sales is just the next step in a history that began in the retail and wholesale dry cleaning and rental laundry business two generations ago. Bill and Louis's grandfather immigrated to Ohio from Syria in 1902 and opened the Eastern Dry Cleaners in the early 1920s. In 1938, the family business expanded when the Darahs founded Superior Overall Laundry Company across the street from the cleaners, which was operated by the oldest son, Paul, Louis's father. Before the dry cleaning establishment was sold in 1970, the next generation of Darahs had hands-on experience working in each of these places. "As a kid, I worked in the Eastern Dry Cleaners," recalls Bill Darah. "As a teen and into my 20s, I worked at Superior Overall. Louis, being 13 years my senior, traveled a similar course and became vice president of the laundry in 1971."In 1983, Superior Overall Laundry purchased Giha's, a uniform store, and Louis and Bill started working out of both places. They bought Superior Uniform Sales from the laundry in 1992, when the Darah family sold Superior Overall to Aramark.

After running the gamut from dry cleaning to rental laundry, retail and wholesale, the Darahs are quite content in direct sales. Their combined experience has paid off handsomely in details large and small, even to their choice of geography. "We selected this location because of expressway accessibility. We've got two major expressways in Toledo, I-75 and I-475, and we are right off two exit ramps where they come together. So we always say in our business that 'we are a destination,' " states Bill Darah, proudly. "We aren't a retail shopping store per se, so we think accessibility is of major importance. We've got customers who drive from 50 miles away and our location makes it easy for them to get here."

The facility at 909 Phillips Avenue is Superior's third address since they opened for business in 1983. At that time the company was located at 630 Phillips and they inherited a three-year lease from the prior owner. In 1986, Superior moved to 821 Phillips. Then, in February of 1998, they bought the building they now occupy, renovated it and moved in nine months later, in November of 1998. Bill Darah says the 37,000 square foot building was a considerable upgrade from the 10,000 square feet at 821 Phillips. "We tore out 2,000 square feet from the front of the building to make room for ample parking and took the next 18,000 square feet for the store and left 17,000 feet for lease. The other store, though significantly smaller, served us well for 12 years."

Bill recalls that initially they were looking for 15,000 feet of space, but once again, location came into play. "When the building across from our previous facility went up for sale, we took it even though at 18,000 feet it was more space than we thought we needed."

All of which means that the 23 employees of Superior have more spacious quarters in which to conduct business. "Our people are more comfortable in their work environment," he continues. "We've doubled the size of our showroom, to about 5,000 feet. All of the departments have more space now. We have comfortable work cubicles for our outside sales people, and for customer service as well. There's a big difference, psychologically. People feel better. They should feel good about coming to work every day."

One of the many lessons Bill and Louis learned from Paul Darah was the importance of putting emphasis on the facility, of keeping it modern. "We believe firmly that the facility presents the image of the company." Bill tells the story of how the store manager, Eric McClain, was visiting his hometown of Pittsburgh and found a fire sale at a department store. "For ten cents on the dollar we had our showroom filled. From a retail perspective, the showroom is important, and now we've got the space to display our products in an orderly and attractive manner.

"We're into many different industry categories, like public safety, postal, health care, career apparel and promotional apparel," continues Bill. "We don't use signage in the showroom because the extra square footage enables each area to be self contained. The first thing the customer sees is the health care department. And then you walk in a little further and see the public safety and postal areas, and so on."

Superior began to offer health care apparel when OSHA released its regulations regarding blood-borne pathogens in 1992. Around that time, the Toledo House of Uniforms, the main, locally-owned white goods uniform store closed its doors, creating a niche for a company like Superior to fill. While the retail end of health care isn't really promoted by Superior, their outside sales force is encouraged to call on medical offices, specialists in particular.

"Health care is a fairly new type of business for us and it's growing. I used to say 30 percent of our business was industrial. But what is industrial anymore?"

In terms of percentages, Darah estimates that over 90 percent of their present business is devoted to group sales--via purchase order vouchers. Through their outside sales force, Superior solicits group business of all descriptions. "When you make a deal with a company, it's their choice whether we go out and measure, which we are happy to do, and we always take try-on samples with us. Or, they can send their people into the store over a one-week period to be measured."

Their three-person sales force, consisting of two dedicated outside sales people and an outside sales manager, cover a 90-mile radius. Additionally, the outside sales manager, Gary Masters, oversees a smaller territory of his own. Notes Bill Darah, "Eric McClain, our store manager, has two inside sales people that work under him. McClain is also the account executive for Lucas County Public Safety Accounts (Superior is located in Lucas County, Ohio) and the idea there is that you don't need an outside sales person calling on them regularly because these are the customers who frequent your store.

"So we have five people, including myself, who can actually go out and call upon customers, but three between Gary and his two outside sales people who are active in it every day."

Public safety comprises about half of Superior's business--police, fire, security, sheriff, EMS--and the rest is spread among industrial, career, medical, hospitality, and promotional--all the other divisions. A significant seller for the company is the standard oxford button-down dress shirt. "We're selling what I call the Levi/Docker type pants, whether 65/35 percent poly/cotton or 100 percent cotton. When you factor in the oxford dress shirts, knit shirts and pants, the casual look is very good business, because now everybody is buying it, even police stations. They used to outfit their dispatchers in the standard uniforms, but today a lot of them are being dressed in knit shirts and casual pants."

In addition, Superior maintains in-house embroidery equipment. "We've got six heads here--one 4-head machine and two singles. As we review new orders, we make the decision whether to embroider the items here or at the factory level such as at Red Kap, and we take advantage of Red Kap's embroidery services. For large orders of non-Red Kap merchandise, we make a decision if we are going to do it on our premises or at one of our two contract embroidery houses with 40 to 50 heads available. I feel we have a variety of avenues in which to fill the embroidery orders in a timely fashion."

Bill and Louis find that work is thoroughly enjoyable ultimately because of Superior's staff and customers. "We've got great people. I believe the customers enjoy coming into our store to work with our staff. In order to work here at Superior, you've got to be pleasant and you've got to smile."