Two Fronts are Better than One for Boston Uniform Depot

By Susan Derby

David Shock is the kind of guy who will tell it like it is. So when he says hes dedicated to serving the law enforcement community, hes not just feeding a line to customers. His store and traveling sales truck have been gaining a growing percentage of the Boston-area law enforcement apparel sales since its start in 1996, thanks to his dedication to customers both in products sold and services offered.

Shock is the president of Boston Uniform Depot, a soup-to-nuts store for police, security, fire, EMS, public works and service officers. The 2,400-square-foot store just six miles from downtown Boston is packed with clothing, shoes, hats and soft goods on the main floor and weapons, holsters, ammunition and hard goods downstairs.

I opened December 6, 1996, from scratch, Shock says. After owning a shop 20 miles west of Boston for the sales and installation of strobe lights, sirens and two-way radios for police vehicles, I realized there was a need for a police supply store that could service the police, sheriff and security profession with a complete one-stop shop for public safety apparel and equipment.

Though he did have some familiarity with the law enforcement equipment he installed, he had no experience with uniforms and accessories. He actually grew up fixing cars in his fathers auto body shop. That evolved into automotive cell phone installation in the late 1980s and then into strobe light and emergency auto fixtures. That was his in with the municipal industry. The more he heard customers talk about needing a quality store for their apparel and equipment, the more he thought about providing such a storefront.

Without a business plan or intimate knowledge of the products, Shock leaned heavily on a few of his connections. Two of them, Joe Ensko and Fred Brown, helped him get the business off the ground, working with Shock for the first two years the store was open until they retired.

Joe was a recently retired Boston police officer, and Fred had recently left a police supply store that was downsizing and had laid him off, Shock says. Joe had the personal contacts, and Fred was in the uniform industry for over 25 years, so the team was in place. All I had to do was write checks and get the store ready.

Shock also had the support of a Boston-based law enforcement manufacturer known for its high-visibility jackets. Eventually that relationship became tarnished, as Shock describes it, in the process of Shock putting his customers safety first.

In 2000, they announced a new color high-visibility yellow, just like the cops wear in England. They thought that every department would switch to their new jacket because they stopped making orange, says Shock. Little did they know, large departments could not afford to purchase the new yellow jacket for everyone at $395 each. So I started looking for another brand. Large departments, like Boston, Massachusetts State Police, Quincy, Brookline, Boston EMS, etc., were very happy to see a new brand in the market, and best of all, the price was half the cost. I am not bashing the other manufacturer. I am just looking out for my customer, who in return believes in what I am selling them.

The new four-season rain jacket, in fact, has become one of the top-selling items Boston Uniform Depot carries. And the incident reinforced to customers that they come first in the stores priority ranking. In another example, Shock decided to recall jackets they sold from a local manufacturer after seeing a report on an NBC news broadcast. The jackets were shown to have inferior night visibility, and Shock did not want to be responsible for any injuries or deaths due to the product he sold. At a great cost to the company, he recalled the jackets, explaining that, its a lot cheaper than having an officer hurt in a product we sold and ending up in court for misleading the customer on a product we told them is safe to wear at night.

One of the other things that sets Boston Uniform Depot apart from the other uniform retail stores in the area is its ability to sell handguns. As the only gun store in the city of Boston, it gets numerous sales of off-duty weapons. The Glock is a favorite because it is a common duty sidearm, and officers are more comfortable buying something they are already familiar with.

As the retail stores popularity grew, Shock realized he needed more space to accommodate more products and grow the company. Instead of scouring the city for a second location and searching for someone to run it, he took a completely different approach. Thinking back to his days at the auto body shop, he remembered the local Snap-On Tool dealer who would visit by truck with the new tools of the month. The convenience factor alone was enough to sway the auto body shop to buy from that dealer.

Shock applied the same principle to his own retail store. If you cant come to us, well come to you! In peoples lives, whatever it is they are looking to do, the easiest way is the best way. Why fight traffic? Most cops and fire personnel are held for overtime. They cant get to a uniform store; they want to get home to their families and sometimes second jobs, so my solution is perfect.

The truck carries all the same products the retail store has, only with a limited inventory. Shoppers can try on sizes, check out products and leave with most of their purchases on the spot. Only rarely do orders need to be placed for delivery a few days later.
The truck has been so successful that it now makes up about 75% of the total sales of Boston Uniform Depot.

I wish I didnt have the store sometimes because Im locked down here, Shock says, but this is where it all started and its our showroom, warehouse and seamstress facility.

The truck was a lot cheaper to start than the storefront. While the total cost was about $80,000, most of that was the truck itself. About $8,000 of it was a laptop computer, a cash drawer, a point-of-sale system and a printer. It can carry about $30,000 in inventory and serves the entire county and beyond. Plus it only takes one employee to run two if the sales location is expected to be busy.

It has been such a success that Shock is in the process of selling independent distributorships across the country, saying This truck is whats going to put Boston Uniform Depot on the map in each state. Shock has put together a full business package including truck, inventory, and computer system with pre-loaded software, plus use of the Boston Uniform Depot logo and bulk ordering discounts, that independent dealers can buy for $150,000 each. In return, Boston Uniform Depot charges a 10% royalty on all products. The dealer operates a proven mobile store in his own territory, usually set by his home county.

The dealer gets all municipalities and private companies in that county. A dealer will have the sheriffs department of the county, all police, fire, EMS and departments of public works, Shock says. Also colleges in their counties have college police, hospitals have security personnel, shopping malls have security personal, etc. Its in unlimited amount of customers.

Shock says the biggest challenge for the mobile store is weather. Remember the three feet of snow dumped on the Northeast in less than two days in December? At those times, law enforcement officials are too busy with their own jobs to worry about shopping for uniform needs. Plus getting around to different locations can be treacherous. During those times, the trucks inventory is counted and new orders are placed for when it can operate again. Another difficulty is car accidents. A simple fender bender can put the store out of business for weeks, and the repairs for a specialized vehicle can be expensive.

But the benefits of operating a mobile store like Boston Uniform Depots far outweigh the occasional difficulties. The independent dealer can work for himself, setting hours and destinations with a lot of flexibility. To advertise a stores location, the operator simply plugs the laptop into a phone line at night, and the computer sends faxes out to the neighboring cities and towns announcing the location and hours for the next days visit. Police, fire, EMS and public works departments are all on the fax list, plus any college or private security forces. The business model has been tested, so its easier and faster to turn a profit with the truck than with a retail location.

When new business owners try with a retail storefront facility, they often fail within the first year, says Shock, citing high startup costs as the principal reason. This public safety apparel and equipment business is a privilege to be a part of, not a right. Our customers are very private individuals. It has taken me many years to develop this customer base, and I know my trucks will only fail if the independent dealer is not motivated. He or she has to really want to make $100,000 plus per year. Anything less and they are not hustling. If Galls can sell $180 million a year out of a catalog, why cant my trucks do $500,000 to $1,000,000 plus a year?

While Boston Uniform Depot is anxious to get more mobile units out, it has kept its retail store lean on staff while expanding services. Just five employees operate the retail store and the initial mobile store. Two salespersons (one with the store and one with the truck), one seamstress, one bookkeeper and Shock himself operate the business. Having an on-site seamstress means customers can get shoulder patches sewn on in five minutes, braids and hems on trousers in 15 minutes, and pockets cut in pants too. Silk screening and embroidery are contracted out to one of four different vendors.

The services are a necessary part of the uniform operation. With only one other major competitor within six miles of downtown Boston, Shocks company has prided itself on service and quality products. Advertising for Boston Uniform Depot is virtually non-existent. Shock spent about $1,000 on key chains, pens, calendars and business card holders when the store opened to get the word out. Since then, he has relied on word of mouth for the store and the faxes for the mobile unit to attract more customers.

In the future, a Web site will have many products available online. 911depot.com will be able to track the mobile trucks by GPS antennas so departments will know when one is in the area and where its next planned stop will be.

For now, Shock depends on his customers and his straight talk to promote Boston Uniform Depot. Straight talk. No stories. Tell the truth, is his list of what keeps customers coming back.

Boston Uniform Depot
395 Neponset Ave.
Boston, MA 02122
617-282-0911