A business world mantra, repeated endlessly by CEOs, is
“think outside the box.” Medical goods supplier Philip
Gabriel is a testament to the sageness of this advice.
Gabriel, owner of medical uniforms and accessories store Scrubs
Unlimited, discovered a lucrative and unexpected second market for
his store, selling his goods as costumes.
Now his store, located on Weyburn Avenue, finds its business
from medical students equalled by that of party-goers looking to
become doctors for a night.
“Two Halloweens ago, people started coming in asking for
doctor (and) nursing outfits. I ordered some extra stuff, and the
last two weeks got a lot of extra business,” Gabriel
said.
Sensing potential profits in catering to the Halloween crowd,
Gabriel made costumes a permanent fixture of the store the
following year.
“I went all out,” Gabriel said. “I started
putting packages together, and word-of-mouth spread.”
Signs hanging in front of the store also publicized Scrubs
Unlimited’s costumes. Gabriel remembers a particularly
popular banner from last year that read: “Everything you need
to be a doctor, except the debt.”
Halloween shoppers say the quality of the uniforms and
accessories, coupled with competitive prices, led them to get their
costumes at Scrubs Unlimited.
“The quality is really nice (and) I was surprised by how
cheap they were,” said Vienna Lor, a second-year undeclared
student, who was purchasing a nurse’s cloak.
Besides Halloween business, Gabriel has found consistent
customers in fraternities and sororities, whose parties often have
a medical theme.
Earlier this month, Sigma Chi’s “Dirty Doctors,
Naughty Nurses” party drew many students to Scrubs Unlimited.
Sigma Chi member and party-goer Andy Grock, a second-year
philosophy and life sciences student, said he was impressed by the
costumes at the Oct. 16 party, many of which were purchased from
Scrubs Unlimited.
Costume sales at Scrubs Unlimited have enhanced the
store’s overall profits. Gabriel estimates his store’s
annual costume sales at over $45,000.
“Right now, half my business is in costumes,”
Gabriel said.
Besides the extra profits, Gabriel enjoys the energetic
customers the costumes have brought to the store.
“(The costumes) bring in a lot of different people who
usually wouldn’t shop here,” Gabriel said. “They
always come in a good mood.”
However, the store’s success as a costume vendor is only
the latest episode in a saga that has taken Scrubs Unlimited from
the brink of bankruptcy to prosperity.
Founded in December 1998, Scrubs Unlimited faced great
difficulties in its first years of existence. Coping with high rent
and many competitors, Gabriel initially struggled to make the store
successful.
“It was a totally new business to him ““ he knew
nothing about retail,” said Gabriel’s wife Lisa
Chapman.
Scrubs Unlimited’s fortunes began to improve in March
2001, when it launched an online business and was added to
UCLA’s official list of vendors.
Scrubs Unlimited also found an untapped market for more unusual
medical accessories.
“I’m the first scrub store on the West Coast to sell
red, yellow and orange scrubs,” Gabriel said. “And
there’s a market for that ““ who would have
thought.”
But Gabriel says the addition of the doctor and nurse costumes
has been the most lucrative innovation for his business.
“October is like my Christmas,” Gabriel said,
referring to the time of the year when stores often do a
significant portion of their annual business.
Though the costumes have created a lot of additional customers
for Scrubs Unlimited, Gabriel notes the risks inherent with the
presence of so many authentic medical uniforms on Halloween.
“Be sure not to get sick on Halloween,” Gabriel
joked. “There will be a lot of fake doctors in convincing
costumes.”