Batteries Plus Boosts El Paso Presence
By David Burge
06/10/2007

The way retired Army pilot Kenny Ley sees it, people always need batteries, even in a slow economy.

Ley and his wife, Maureen, own the exclusive franchise rights for Batteries Plus for the El Paso and Las Cruces area, and they plan to open their second store this summer.

Ley called his business "virtually recession-proof."

"You choose to go out to eat or buy a new car," he said. "But if you want your appliance to work, you need batteries."

A second El Paso Batteries Plus store will open in early August at 7104 N. Mesa in the Colony Cove 2 shopping center on the West Side.

Ley and his wife opened their first store in June 2006 at 1441 N. Zaragoza, Suite E1-2, at Don Haskins Drive in East El Paso.

"With El Paso being so spread out and divided by a mountain, our plan is (to have stores) East, West, Northeast and a satellite store in the Downtown area," Ley said.

He plans to open a store in Las Cruces next year and two more in El Paso by 2010.

Batteries Plus, part of a growing Wisconsin-based franchising company, carries a full line of batteries for cars, trucks, laptop computers, cordless phones, personal data assistants, iPods, camcorders, digital cameras and commercial warehouse sweepers, and traditional household batteries, among other items. The store also carries a specialized line of batteries for first-responders, military and law enforcement.

"We have batteries you won't find at big-box retailers, and you don't have to look for someone to help you," Ley said.

An in-store tech center makes custom battery packs, and batteries are recycled for free as a community service, Ley added.

Victor Medina, owner of El Paso's Data Doctors computer-repair franchise on the West Side, said the new Batteries Plus store will "have a positive economic impact on the West Side" by keeping West Side consumers in that part of town.

"There isn't anyone on this side of town that stocks the batteries that Ken does," Medina said. "You can always find your batteries there. I refer a lot of customers to them. (Customers) weren't happy with the distance they had to travel (to the East Side) but they were happy about getting their batteries on short notice.

"The alternative is ordering on the Internet and you have to wait and you have to wonder if the company you're dealing with is reputable. At least Ken is local, and you know where to find him."

Alejandro Reyes, owner of Aire-Master on the West Side, says he makes a trip to the East Side Batteries Plus store at least once a month and he's happy they'll be opening a store closer to his business.

"It's something the West Side was missing," Reyes said. "Face it, almost everything needs batteries. (The store) will be a good thing to have within reach."

Russ Reynolds, chief executive officer of Batteries Plus, said his company's business model is "centered on breadth of assortment."

"Our successful franchises do that well," he said. "On top of that, Kenny has done a good job of making himself well known in that market. He's a member of a number of business and civic organizations and he's a former member of the military. He's done a good job of leveraging his Rolodex."

Reynolds said Ley's original store is among the company's five best-performing locations compared with other stores open for a similar length of time.

The Hartland, Wis., franchising company has 330 stores, with about 313 being franchises. The company expects to open 40 stores this year, Reynolds said.

Frank Hoy, director of the University of Texas at El Paso's entrepreneurial centers, said he initially wondered if a retailer like Batteries Plus, with such a specialized niche, could survive.

"But now we see that the business has not only survived, but is thriving sufficiently to expand to a second location," Hoy wrote in an e-mail.

Hoy said one of the most challenging moves an entrepreneur can make is to expand from one to two locations.

"Most don't recognize how much difference this will make in their lives," Hoy wrote.

Entrepreneurs with expanding businesses need to hire "talented managers who can work with minimal supervision" and learn to delegate, Hoy said.

Ley has hired Charles Norton, former president of Norton Brothers office and furniture stores, a longtime El Paso family-owned company that closed in the 1990s. Norton is training under East Side store manager Joe Jurado and will take over the West Side store.

The new West Side store will be about 1,200 square feet and will employ five people, Ley said.

The battery industry has grown at a 6 percent rate per year for the past 10 years, Ley said.

David Burge may be reached at dburge@elpasotimes.com; 546-6126.