Route 9 East: Uniformly Positive
Trippi's Uniforms, 268 Boston Turnpike East, Shrewsbury
In fact, the Trippi's are downright bullish about current economic conditions, both locally and nationally.
Anthony Trippi Jr., his brother Frank Trippi and cousins Marcie and Nicholas Trippi, recently took over the family business from their parents.
Trippi said he is as excited as he's ever been as a business owner on Route 9. Traffic increases every year, he said, and the proposed Lakeway Business District encompassing his end of the road in Shrewsbury will only help boost business.
Trippi said he is looking forward to changed zoning regulations that may allow him to use outdoor displays in warmer months, or build his store up to as many as three levels.
Additionally the large workforce at the UMass Medical School and hospital just down the street has provided his store with a welcome boost in business selling nurses scrubs, lab coats and assorted accessories.
The snowy winter has also helped business. A colder winter means cops, firefighters and security guards need more expensive cold weather gear.
Ties To City Budets
Trippi said there are inherent advantages to his business model.
"In this business, a lot of our clients have stipends they have to spend on certain things," Trippi said. "Unless police departments and fire departments are eliminated, we'll always do OK."
A shop like his can't advertise to policemen and firefighters, who have their own ideas on which "cop shops" are the best, Trippi said.
Instead, a good shop owner will let the clientele come to him through relationships built with veterans and supervisors. The store has gained a reputation for having a variety of necessary items in stock, and also as a place where those looking for employment can get a sense of where the opportunities are, Trippi said.
The uniform supply shop could be seen as a bellwether for municipal affluence, according to Trippi. He said his business would not be growing unless towns were hiring more cops, more firefighters, or creating more biotech jobs. And those town's would not be increasing their workforces if they weren't doing OK, he said.
Trippi also has a somewhat rosier view of the national economy.
"Look at unemployment, which is low. The stock market, until recently, has been pretty OK for seven years. Our tax revenues are higher than they've ever been, and the interest rates are low," Trippi said. "These are all indicators of strength. Things may not be booming, but they're holding steady."
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments