David Semel of David’s Wholesale owes his Success to Accidents, including a chance meeting at the Off Price Show!

David’s Wholesale/MODA (Booth #751 at the August Show) of North Miami Beach, Florida is known for having “really good stuff at a reasonable price.”  For 20 years, the company has been serving smaller retailers for Fall/Back to School with excellent values in backpacks and other accessories.

“40% of our business is in June and July,” said David Semel, the president.  “We have stock on hand and we can ship out in a day or two.  We have the best prices in the industry.  Our price points are between $2 and $6.”

The New York native, whose family moved to Florida when he was a kid, got into the wholesale business by accident.  His family was in the food business.  They owned a couple restaurants, a wholesale division and a big catering group which is still going strong.  He returned home to New York to study hotel/restaurant management at Sullivan County Community College in the Catskills.

When David returned to Florida, he worked the flea markets on weekends to make a few extra bucks while cutting his teeth in the family business.  He thoroughly enjoyed the work of his second job, not to mention the benefits.

“I was making more money in 2 days than I was working 5 for the family.”

Hence, he opened his own business in accessories wholesaling in 1988 and has achieved great success – especially in the last five years.

“Wholesale was the natural progression so we decided to make it bigger.  We decided to import directly about 5 years ago.  As a result, sales have increased consistently 20-40% over the last four years.”

David’s Wholesale has been doing the Off Price Show for over ten years.  It has enabled them to open a lot of doors and accounts.  They “meet people we can’t get our hands on normally.”  One person David met at the August 2004 show would have a major impact on his life and his company – his wife Angela. 

“Even though we were both from Miami, we had to meet in Las Vegas.  Besides being the great love of my life, she’s been a big part of our turnaround as a business.  She focuses on sales and I focus on product development and everything else.”

David and Angela will be celebrating their first wedding anniversary on June 14^th.  In the meantime, they are busy running a family business with 6 employees, including themselves and David’s Dad, Stewart.  David feels that the size and make-up of their organization gives them a distinct advantage.

“We’re such a small company that the main number is my cell.  We believe in the personal touch.  Our customers are very loyal because of the attention and quality of service we provide.  Plus, because we are all family here, there’s high accountability.  So our customers are treated the same way, they are not just numbers.” 

One lesson that David learned from his family’s food service business is how to develop relationships to best serve the customer’s needs.  “The catering group does a big trade because of exclusive deals with area temples.  They also work with a lot of churches and philanthropies.”  To David and his team, customer service and value go hand-in-hand.  He feels it’s the same formula for success that many of his retail customers possess.

“It’s all price-oriented.  If you offer price and value, you’ll get the customers.” 

The overwhelming majority of David’s customers are the small businesses like their own.  They’re cracking into the bigger doors, but are very proud of their niche.

 

“We’re about the customer.  That’s how we built the business.”