|
PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Army Navy store owners build lasting relationships with oil industry workers by providing quality work-wear Summer addition of a $100,000 outfitting room means the Army Navy store can handle the largest of oil crews needing all types of matching flame-resistant clothing Amy Armstrong Special to PNA
They are called the “Kings of Carhartts.” And they have the coveted company awards to prove it. Mike Miller and Mark Cruver, who own the Army Navy Store in downtown Anchorage, are partners with Monty Rostad, who runs Big Ray’s in Fairbanks.
More important than accolades are the sales figures that back up the trio’s claim to work-wear fame. In 2000, they sold more than 50,000 Carhartts and currently maintain a daily inventory worth more than $1 million. Sales for 2001 topped 2000 by 30 percent.
“You wouldn’t walk into the grocery store and expect them to be out of milk,” Miller said, referring to the Fourth Avenue store’s approach in supplying the overalls and accessories that are as much an Alaskan staple as duct tape. “You can come in to our store any day of the year and we will never be out of what you need.” Winning contracts through customer care Miller and Cruver have garnered a large portion of the oil industry contracts for clothing, outerwear and footwear by combining basic customer service with an in-house embroidery shop and a new $100,000 outfitting room that can handle large crews comfortably.
“It’s pretty impressive,” said Miller. “You wouldn’t think you were in the Army Navy store.”
Cruver said the pair decided to invest in remodeling nearly half of the downstairs area last summer to make product selection easier for mainstay clients — oil and natural gas workers.
The outfitting room is complete with several full-length mirrors, extra chairs and a videotape machine and numerous manufacturer-produced tapes explaining various products.
“It’s been a great addition in assisting our clients that bring in those large crews,” said Miller. “But the real credit for the success in the contract sales department is our key employee, Rhody Launders, who has been with us for 11 years now. He knows everybody and goes the extra mile for our customers.”
So do the storeowners, who put their retail faith in stock on hand.
“We constantly re-invest into our inventory,” Miller said. “We can probably outfit 500 people at any time 365 days a year. Our goal is to always have your size in stock every day.” Huge inventory is key to success Finding what they need is a real advantage to oil crews who shop the store on their way to the job, Cruver said.
“A lot of the time, these guys are here for a day to shop and then they are getting on a plane and headed to work,” he said. “Now they can get everything they need from jackets and coveralls to footwear, socks and gloves and have it embroidered as well.”
“They don’t have time to wait six- to- eight weeks for orders to come in from Outside,” Miller added. “We can react locally to changes in customer demand.”
When oil production skyrocketed, Miller and Cruver knew they had to find work clothing that was flame resistant.
They researched gear worn by Canadian oil workers and found manufacturers already making flame-resistant clothing that stood up to arctic conditions found in the Canadian oil patch.
“The Canadians had already written the specifications and their oil patch was years ahead of us,” Miller said. “So we turned to them as our suppliers because we knew they would have the best to offer.” Keeping it in the family Putting customers first has kept Army Navy in business since their fathers started the store at its current location on Fourth Avenue and C Street in the late 1940s.
“Our dads were in the war together up here in the Army,” Miller said. “In those days, GIs were given first-cut in surplus military merchandise. They went down to Sacramento and bought sheep skin coats. They brought them back to Anchorage and had sold all of them in two days.”
That was the start of what has blossomed into much more than a work-wear store.
By adding women’s and children’s clothing lines, sales have shot up beyond expectations.
“For years, we heard from customers that they could not find anything thick enough for the kids. And we found that to be true when looking at kids’ lines,” Miller said. “So we went out and basically came up with our own line called Activ8. There is nothing like it on the market.”
About two-thirds of their children’s line goes through the Fairbanks store. However, demand has increased in Anchorage.
For the 2001 Christmas season, Miller and Cruver cashed in some of their Carhartt co-op advertising dollars and featured their daughters touting Carhartts as men’s gifts on television.
“It paid off,” Miller said. “We had a tremendous Christmas season.”
Even with recession looming on the economic horizon and a current lull in the oil industry, Miller is optimistic about sales in 2002.
“What we sell is basic. It isn’t an item that will die next year,” he said. Parking lot means more customers The store’s parking lot just off C Street is usually full.
That’s just fine with Miller.
“It was terrible when we did not have it,” he said. “Once we put that parking lot in, our sales doubled.”
Customers also can park in the garage just across C Street or in front of the store in the meter parking spaces on Fourth Avenue.
“We’ll pay your parking,” he said.
| 