Made in Oklahoma: Batteries Plus
Thursday, December 27, 2007
By Ja'Rena Lunsford
Business Writer

• .Address: 7500 S Santa Fe, Suite 200.
• .Web site: www.batteriesplus.com.
• .Employees: 15.
• .Key personnel: Marietta Dennis, president and owner; Brandon Boozer, vice president; Jerry Haley, operations manager.
• .Products: Batteries.
• .Background: When you ask Brandon Boozer his title, you can hear the excitement in his voice. Although vice president sounds more official, Boozer prefers the more technical title of chief battery problem solver because it makes sense from the business perspective.

"That's literally what we do here," Boozer said. "We are in the business of solving problems."

Boozer's mother, Marietta Dennis, opened the family's first Batteries Plus franchise in March 2002.

The family now owns two locations in Oklahoma City and one in Lawton.

Batteries Plus sells a variety of batteries, from laptop batteries to car batteries to aircraft batteries.

"I can supply aircraft batteries for practically any aircraft flying to date, all the way back to the B-1 Bomber," Boozer said. "That's how far our reach is."

Oklahoma City residents depended on the company's reach during the recent ice storm when batteries, especially for flashlights, were in short supply.

Boozer said Batteries Plus had "D" batteries air shipped in during the ice storm.

"We had a 4,000-pound battery shipment from Wisconsin," he said. "That was just to keep up with all the requests.

Boozer said the store sold thousands of batteries during the storm.

"It was absolute chaos up here," he said. "It was a mixed blessing. It was great for business, but for the wrong reasons."