Q&A: Recession sparks business at battery stores
Gazette.com - January 24, 2010
Bill Radford

While many businesses are licking their wounds in this dismal economy, Batteries Plus is charging ahead.

The Wisconsin-based chain has more than 360 stores in 43 states and Puerto Rico, and an additional 50 stores are in development. The local presence continues to grow as well.

Dix Varley, coming from a background in office-machine sales and service in Minnesota, opened Colorado Springs' first Batteries Plus franchise store in 1995 with wife Carol and son Doug

They now have three locations in the Springs - the latest opened last month at 5620 Woodmen Road on the city's northeast side - and one in Pueblo.

His father is retired, but still keeps an eye on the business, Doug Varley said.

Carol Varley is president of the family venture and Doug is general manager.

At the Woodmen Road location recently, Doug Varley, 38, showed off the store's staggering variety of batteries - for cars, cordless tools, cell phones, laptops, portable game systems and so on - and talked about how the recession has actually helped business.

Question: What was your reaction when you first heard about Batteries Plus? Did you see the potential or did you say, "What do you mean, a store that sells only batteries?"

Answer: Right, it's like the old joke about the tape store. (A long-ago "Saturday Night Live" sketch featured Dan Aykroyd running a Scotch Tape Store.) A lot of people didn't think we'd make it when we first opened. They didn't understand that people have dozens and dozens of batteries now.

Q: We appear to be out of the recession, but times are still tough. Did you have any qualms about expanding at this time?

A: No. We've been booming under this recession, because instead of somebody buying a new car or a new computer with a new battery in it, they keep the old car, the old  computer, and they come to us because they need batteries to keep those working.
With gas prices up, we saw a huge spike in demand for motorcycle and moped batteries. We couldn't keep up the first year that gas went through the roof.

Q: Do you have further plans for expanding or do you feel you have reached the saturation point?

A: We're growing as the town grows. We've been keeping an eye on Pueblo West.

We have one store in Pueblo, and Pueblo is growing pretty well, too.
We're watching the north end of Colorado Springs. We've thought about relocating our south store in the Springs, just for a little bit more visibility and access.

Q: The typical Batteries Plus store has more than 15,000 types of batteries, with access to tens of thousands more. Can you give readers a rough idea of the variety of batteries you carry? And has there ever been a request that stymied you?

A: I've seen things coming from overseas that were difficult to find a battery for.

They keep inventing new batteries, new chemistries. Occasionally we get stumped, but it's very rare.

We do a lot of watch batteries, cordless phone batteries, computers, camcorders, cell phones. Lots of rebuilt cordless-tool batteries. We can check chargers and do some other diagnostics.

We have a tech center where we assemble batteries. We've assembled batteries for satellites, electric cars.

Thirty to 40 percent of our business is commercial, so we actually do exit lights, emergency light batteries, defibrillators.

Hospitals, schools, all these people need batteries. Every building you see has emergency signs, and every sign has a battery.

Q: Batteries Plus has a recycling program. What are the details?

A: We're a dropoff point, primarily for individual households and consumers.

Primarily, rechargeable batteries can be brought here to be disposed of, as opposed to the nonrechargeable alkalines.

Alkalines you can take to the city yourself. We are not trying to collect huge volumes from businesses.