Dawn Vavala

Category: Business
Published: May 2007

At the age of 23, Dawn Varvala started her own business. Just a few years later, she is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the area.

Success Magazine: Dawn, what does success mean to you?

Dawn Vavala: Success means being happy. Seeing plans come to fruition. Setting goals and achieving them. Success is about winning, too. I set out to be the best in my industry. I have the best staff, the best suppliers, the best styles, the best looking store.

SM: You graduated college and you had worked part time in a tuxedo store, when did you decide that you were going to become an entrepreneur and own your own store?

DV: I never thought I would own a tuxedo store. I went to college to become a math teacher, but I discovered I wasn't particularly passionate about math. I changed my major and earned a Bachelor's degree in finance. My brother purchased a Tuxego store, and I worked for him part time. When I graduated, I decided to obtain my MBA and enrolled and was matriculated at SUNY Albany. The Tuxego of Halfmoon store became available because the owner couldn't make a go of it. My brother advised me to buy it. At 23 years of age, I had nothing to lose, so I bought it. Now I have the most successful tuxedo store in the area.

SM: Did you have any experience as an entrepreneur before this store?

DV: When I was 10, I worked on a paper route. When I was in college, I designed and sold teeshirts and made some good money. I had worked as an employee in my brother's tuxedo store, but I had no real entrepreneurial experience that prepared me for ownership of a retail store.

SM: How did you obtain the financing to purchase the business? Did you have a bank loan?

DV: I self-funded the entire venture. I had worked and saved during high school and throughout college, plus I was living at home. The prior owner was so eager to sell that I struck a good deal, and I soon found myself the new owner of the store.

SM: Did you have a business plan or a market plan to open the business?

DV: No, but I had enough experience having worked in my brother's store for 6 years so that I knew the front and back of the house, and I knew what makes this particular industry work.

SM: So what made you successful in this store where others in the industry, including the prior owner, failed? What did you do that was so different?

DV: I delivered for my customers 100% of time. Early on, I vowed that no matter what, I would take care of my customers and be the very best that I could be at what I do. I remember my customers telling me the horror stories that had occurred at other tuxedo stores. Horror stories of people getting the wrong tux, or the wrong size, or the tux not being clean, or not pressed properly. These and a myriad of other problems that I heard about that occurred regularly at competitors' stores made me determined to put the customer first above everything else. I knew that I had to ensure that the mistakes that others committed would not happen in my store, and if there was a mistake that we would admit our mistake and take care of our client. It always amazes me when some owners try to blame the client for their own errors. These owners get negative feedback and no return customers. They can't understand why, but I can.

Another element that makes us successful is that we have a wide selection of tuxedoes and accessories with all of the new styles.

SM: Why don't other tuxedo stores do that?

DV: Common sense isn't all that common.

SM: What is an example of that?

DV: We sell matching handkerchiefs with 90 % of all of our tuxes. The handkerchief is a simple accessory that most people purchase because the cost is low and it truly enhances their look and experience. Yet most of the other tuxedo stores do not bother to offer something as simple as a hankie.

SM: Do you have a business or sales plan for the upcoming years?

DV: I know my sales volume figures and I know what my profit margin is with my different ventures, but I truly go by my feelings and intuition to try new markets and then monitor them each year. We are not so rigid in our plans that we are limited in anything that we do.

SM: Is service and keeping the client happy one of your true mantras?

DV: Yes. The service we provide is excellent. For example, during a prom weekend when we have over 400 tuxes going out in one day, I will hire 15 extra people just for that busy time period to ensure that my clients don't have to wait. At another tux place on prom night people complain about a 45 minute wait with lines out the door. I would never do that to my customers. I want them to be happy. I hate if people have to wait 5 minutes.

SM: Are you a perfectionist?

DV: No, but I see what I know that makes me happy and I know what upsets my clients, so I learn from other people's mistakes and try to make sure that it does not happen to me and my clients. I am constantly looking for better ways to improve my store and my marketing to ensure our continued success. SM: Since most of all of your competition has folded are you looking to expand to another location, or are you going to just serve your increased market share from here? DV: I was looking to expand to the Saratoga area two years ago, and I could have easily have handled the expansion, but I decided against it. I have an excellent market share here, and I enjoy my life with what I am doing now. I have a license plate that reads "nicelife" on my convertible BMW. Part of our expansion plans for the future is drilling down deeper in our market.

SM: How do you retain your good help?

DV: My people are hard working, intelligent high school and college students as well as part timers who also have full time jobs who get paid well to do an relatively easy and interesting job. I treat them well. They are not forced to create work within the store just to keep busy. They complete their work and then they can do their homework or read as long as the work is completed and they take care of the customers.

SM: You have open communications with your employees?

DV: They can tell me anything. I am open to suggestions for improving our service, and I work with them on scheduling to balance the demands made by their personal and school lives.

SM: So you love what you do?

DV: I don't always love all the day-to-day tasks that need to be done within the store, but I love being an entrepreneur and serving my customers. I especially love the marketing aspect of being a business owner.

SM: Is market promotion one of the keys to your success?

DV: Yes, getting out into the public to promote my business is critical to the success of my business. I don't understand business owners who say that they can't leave their stores or offices because they can't get someone to watch the store. That is ridiculous. They can get someone at $8 per hour to do the uncomplicated work of "watching the store." Business owners should be out networking and marketing and promoting their businesses with other business owners, not sitting behind their desk or counter. They should join a Rotary club, Chamber of Commerce or charitable cause, which will allow them to share the joy and love of their businesses as well as to promote their businesses.

SM: You love to promote your business?

DV: Yes. I have a "Take Someone to Lunch" program. I invite for lunch or dinner someone who is a potential client or one of my vendors, and we discuss how we can work together and network toward achieving our goals better. Spending $30 or $40 to sit down with someone for an hour in an informal business setting to get to know them better and to discover better ways of doing business together is cost-effective marketing. After all, one of the key rules of business is that people want to do business with someone they know.

SM: Is networking critical with your expansion?

DV: Yes. But the key to networking is that before you get you have to give. When I help people with their businesses, they will reciprocate and share referrals of their clients with me. So networking is a critical component of my business success.

SM: What are your goals for the future?

DV: One of our goals is the expansion of our Internet sales. We will expand our e-commerce site for tuxes and for our own line of bridal party teeshirts and attendant gifts. Another big area for market expansion is the hospitality area. Every restaurant and banquet hall has a need for our product, and I want to be the go-to person for that. I will also try to expand my market share by networking with photographers, limo drivers, DJs and anyone else who intersects our market.

SM: What are your other keys to success?

DV: There are four key people that you must have in your business life. You must have a good lawyer, a good banker, a good accountant and a good PR person. These are critical people. They must be the best in the business, and they must have your best interests at heart.

SM: Who are your key people?

DV: My lawyer is Matt Sgambettera of Sgambettera & Associates. My banker is Jessica Petraccione of 1st National Bank of Scotia. My accountant is Kevin Hedley of Hedley & Co., Certified Public Accountants. My public relations consultant is Pauline Bartel of Bartel Communications, Inc., who nominated me for The Business Review's "40 Under Forty" honor. I'm proud to say that I'm a member of the "40 Under Forty" class of 2007.

SM: What is your personal keys to success?

DV: For me, its never been about the money. I just go out there to win. When you do that, the money will always follow. Also, always be nice, and always do the right thing.