From paper towels to light bulbs, green space is growing on store shelves and some of the products in the coming months may have a Knoxville company behind them.
Purely Enterprises - headquartered in a West Knoxville warehouse - has leveraged the demand for green into a growing list of products that includes air purification devices, germicidal compact fluorescent light bulbs and ultraviolet replacement bulbs for a variety of applications.
Last quarter, the Purely Anion light bulbs - which combine a compact fluorescent bulb with a negative ion generator that "removes smoke, dust, pet dander and other contaminants from the air" (according to the company's Web site)- were introduced in Lowe's home improvement stores. The company recently completed a "very large" deal with national discount retailer Costco to sell the bulbs and other deals are in the works with Kroger, CVS, Walgreens and Petco for a variety of Purely Enterprises products, said Myron Mullins, founder and CEO.
"We finally have gotten the attention of some of the mega-retailers out there," Mullins said.
Mullins's business background is in wholesale sporting goods, and he founded Internet-based Gone-Home, which later merged with ForSaleByOwner.com and sold in 2006 to the Tribune Co. He settled in Knoxville - a middle point between headquarters for Home Depot in Atlanta and Lowe's near Charlotte, N.C., - after that with an eye on the green market, which was bubbling up in conversations with his contacts as the next big sales opportunity.
"The theme you heard over and over was green, green, green, green, green," Mullins said.
The business started with germicidal ultraviolet bulbs, used in settings as varied as saltwater fish tanks, hospitals and air purifiers. More than 200 million products in the U.S. use the bulbs, he said.
Because the bulbs typically were sold by manufacturers of the products themselves, they were costly. Mullins found that he was able to deliver a bulb at a "solid retail price" that cost 50 percent less than the others. Now the company sells to retail customers and to businesses who use the bulbs.
With that foundation, the 2-year-old Purely Enterprises began introducing other products to appeal to the nation's new green sensibilities. The Purely Anion bulb taps into the trend toward compact fluorescent with the additional benefit of an air purification device, Mullins said. The company also sells a portable air purification device called a "Pocket Purifier" that will be available at Kroger Marketplace stores, including the new Farragut location. The company now is rolling out a new, higher-end product line of negative ion generators, which the company Web site says removes air pollutants like smoke, pollen, mold, dust, pet dander and chemicals.
All the products are available on the company Web site in addition to partner retailers.
Purely Enterprises does not manufacture or create products itself but carries out the marketing, packaging and development. Mullins said the company negotiates exclusive rights to a particular product for three to five years with a three-to -five-year option. Products are manufactured in China and then distributed through Purely Enterprises and another local third-party distributor to stores and direct to customers.
Mullins said he recognizes the conflict posed by a green company with manufacturing bases in a country that has a decidedly less-than-environmentally-responsible reputation. But, he said, there are no manufacturers in the U.S. equipped to produce the products Purely Enterprises sells.
"When I started looking for a manufacturer for germicidal bulbs, I started scouring the U.S.," he said. "Well, nobody's making germicidal ultraviolet bulbs in the U.S., so it was, 'OK, where do we get them from?' And it was basically India and China."
Purely Enterprises offers free recycling and a product discount for customers who return bulbs to the company, Mullins said. Company products are sold in recycled plastic packages, Mullins said. And the company is working to be as green as possible in its day-to-day operations, he said, using only recycled paper for promotional materials and striking deals with retailers including Petco and Lowe's to serve as recycling collection points for Purely Enterprises lighting products.
While the retail market continues to suffer, Mullins said demand for Purely Enterprise products is growing. He said the company has been affected by the economy. For example, a planned end-cap of products to be showcased in Target stores at the end of December was postponed because of inventory constraints.
"We've seen some retailers take a step back and be more cautious in what they're doing," he said. "They've scaled back their expansion plans into particular segments that involved our product."
Mullins says he expects to see growth reflected in company sales this year. If all goes as planned, less than $2 million in revenues for 2008 will grow to more than $20 million in 2009, he said.
The company is developing its next product lines, which will be introduced first on the company Web site, and then, hopefully, Mullins said, follow the path of their predecessors to big-box retail stores.
On tap: ice and water filtration systems and LED light bulbs.
Larisa Brass is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
