PROFILES IN BUSINESS: Stanley 'PAL' Borofsky and the success of Sam's

Vermont Business Magazine, Sep 01, 2004 by Marcel, Joyce

Within the three stores, Sam stocks over 420,000 individual items; everything from men's and women's shoes, clothing and outerwear to kayaks and paddles.

"You can buy a sleeping bag, a tent, a backpack, and the hunting equipment and camping equipment that goes along with it," Borofsky said. "You can buy fishing equipment, If you're hunting, we have the clothing, the footwear, the waterproof boots, the stuff you waterproof the boots with, stuff you waterproof jackets with, and rainwear."

Sam's dropped its "Army &Navy" tag a long time ago:

"My father called it 'Army & Navy' to begin with," Borofsky said. "But there were a lot of Army & Navy stores all over, so he put 'Sam's' on it. Then he had 'Sam's Army & Navy Department Store.' And when I came, I made the 'Sam's' bigger and the 'Army & Navy smaller. I hated to get away from it because it had been successful. First we answered the phone with, 'Army & Navy store.' When I started, I said, 'Good afternoon, Sam's.' The customer would say, 'Is this the

Army & Navy store?' After a while, I said, 'People want the Army & Navy store. Let them have it. Finally, one day I picked up the phone and said 'Army & Navy' and they said, 'Is this Sam's?' And I realized we had made the switch."

Borofsky has spread Sam's reputation far beyond southern Vermont and New Hampshire. He maintains a large and expensive billboard off I-91 in Northampton, MA, and subscribes to a service that distributes Sam's brochures deep into Connecticut. He draws a large number of his customers from the tourists who pass through Brattleboro on their way to the ski areas.

Over the years, Sam's has had many famous customers, from Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney - who used Sam's as a business model in one of his stockholder reports - to the Kennedy family, filmmaker Ron Howard, entertainer Bill Cosby and actor Paul Newman. More importantly, Borofsky and Sam's are nationally known in the retail clothing business.

"Sam's, its probably one of the bestrun retail operations in New England," said Kevin Morris, who, as the New England salesman for such items as Wigwam Socks, Duofold Thermal Underwear, and Kamik winter boots, has been selling to Sam's for over 20 years. "In the last 20 years, the Sam's of the world are all going out of business due to the competition of the Wal-Marts and the big box stores. But Sam's continues to get bigger and bigger. Pal is recognized nationally. When I do my national sales meetings, and also go to the national shows, there's always a conversation about Sam's and how their business is doing. He's very well-known and very wellrespected."

Borofsky learned the business at his father's knee - little by little by little. He is still learning.

"Ever hear about the farmer who lifts a little calf every day?" Borofsky said. "He lifts the same calf, and one day it's a full cow and he lifts a full cow. I think that's what happens in this business when you grow into it and it expands around you, and you enjoy what you do. I've been in this business fulltime for 47 years, and you find out what you're doing wrong every single day. There's always something you're doing wrong. There's always something you can do better. But you can always do something different."