Company: The Health & Allergy Store
Location: 1535 Post Rd., Warwick
Type of business: Anti-allergy and herbal products
Owners: Mark Andreozzi and Victoria Barzin
Employees: 2 full-time; 2 part-time
Annual Sales: WND
Founded: January 1998
A year ago January, Dr. Mark Andreozzi, a Cranston ear nose and throat (ENT) physician, made an intriguing move. He opened a second business, siphoning customers from his private practice. The Health & Allergy Store on Post Road in Warwick is a place where red-eyed, sniffling and sneezing customers can find relief in an array of non-pharmacological, non-invasive forms.
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Still it begs the question: Why would a man who makes his living prescribing pills and performing surgeries start selling alternatives to those profitable treatments?
If you ask Andreozzi, it makes both medical and business sense. A couple of years into his almost seven-year-old practice, Andreozzi noticed a disturbing pattern: customers who, after rounds of antibiotics and multiple surgeries, returned with the same complaint of sinusitis – a generic term for inflamed nasal passages with an array of causes.
The patients were asking “what is the cause of my problem? Why do I have to be on all these medications?” Andreozzi recalled. “I thought I’d find out why my patients aren’t responding to the treatments they should respond to.” A trained allergist, Andreozzi concluded that even the soundest of sinuses can fall victim to household allergens. “Multiple sinus infections are typically caused by dust mites,” he said. Molds and chemicals and wind-borne pollen are other common causes.
Victoria Barzin, Andreozzi’s sister and the store’s co-owner, summed up her brother’s philosophy: “He believes in prevention and that people should avoid surgery at all costs.” A doctor who’d rather you buy a $250 air filter than undergo surgery at many times that cost? If it sounds too good to be true, it isn’t.
“I have many more patients than I need to have,” Andreozzi said. “And the goal is to make patients better.”
“Besides, what happens when you make patients better is they tell another 10 patients about you,” he said.
Andreozzi is confident the pattern will hold, quoting a statistic that an estimated 35 million Americans report some kind of sinus pain to their doctor each year. “It’s the number one chronic health complaint in the U.S.,” he said.
For a long time Andreozzi handed his patients catalogs of anti-allergy products, recommending mattress and pillow covers to keep out mites, air purifiers, smoke eaters, and chemical-free household cleansers, among others. However, he found they were reluctant to make purchases based on pictures.
“A lot of patients like to talk to somebody, see the product and feel confident that if they had to return the product they could,” Andreozzi said. “I thought why don’t I just open a store so they can go in and buy it.”
Andreozzi decided to focus solely on allergy remedies and chose a name to match: The Nose Store. However, a lack of health stores in the area suggested otherwise. When the store opened in January 1998, about 60 percent of the inventory was allergy-related products. An assortment of herbs, vitamins, teas, high-protein snacks and “new-age” novelty items comprised the rest.
The siblings have used a combination of newspaper advertisements, direct mailings, flyers left in doctors’ offices and in-store seminars to get the word out about their store. It has helped that Andreozzi isn’t alone in pushing prevention over pills.
“Doctor awareness is increasing tremendously,” Barzin said. “Some of the top ENT’s and allergists in the state are thrilled that we’re here.”
Dr. Donald Klein, a Providence allergist, is one.
I feel very strongly about environmental controls for allergic identified problems,” Klein said. “Two of the major problems we deal with in interior environment allergens are dust mites and pets.” That people spend more time than ever in tightly sealed homes and offices only exacerbates the problem, he said.
Klein said he regularly recommends dust mite-proof bedding and air purifiers to his patients, and is happy to refer them to The Health & Allergy Store instead of a catalog.
“It’s been a great boon to have a store locally that we can have people go down to and look at the product,” Klein said, adding “these aren’t inexpensive products.” (Air purifiers at The Health & Allergy store cost between $99 and $399.)
In short, the store offers “the convenience of a good product,” he said.
These days, customers are split about evenly between walk-ins and referrals, Barzin said.
First year sales met expectations, Barzin said. But the road wasn’t always easy. Both partners have small children and Andreozzi works about 60 hours a week at his own practice. Then there’s the ongoing challenge of “educating the consumer that there are things they can do that don’t involve (traditional) medicine and surgery,” Andreozzi said. “Most people are interested in a quick fix, not a lifestyle modification.”
Ironically, Andreozzi and Barzin hope to launch a Web site and a catalog within six months. The pair still believe in the personal touch. But they also believe in trends. “That’s the market,” Andreozzi said. “Besides, it’s cheaper to go with the Internet and catalog than opening more stores.”
To distinguish their catalog from those of myriad companies selling similar goods, Andreozzi and Barzin plan to supplement pictures and product descriptions with lots of information.
“What we try to provide patients with is an educational resource” in the form of a store, Andreozzi said. “What we would try to reflect in our catalog is that same philosophy.”
