We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dalia and Tony Morcos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dalia and Tony below.
Alright, Dalia and Tony thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
My wife and I worked and lived overseas for over 13 years. I was an electrical engineer and she was an international school registrar. When we returned to the Saint Petersburg to retire, we found ourselves buying and exchanging many Amazon orders, standing in line at the local The UPS Store to complete our returns. Dalia nudged me and told me that buying a The UPS Store would be a great idea. I did not think much of the idea at the beginning, but soon thought the same. When we talked to the store owner, he talked non-stop for 2 hours excitedly explaining what a wonderful business owning a The UPS Store is and how fulfilling and meaningful it is for him. We left curious and determined to investigate. We eventually submitted our application for a franchise and purchased our store on 740 4th Street North. As I like to joke, “I got tired of waiting in line to do my Amazon returns, I bought the store!”
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.
Most people when they hear that we own/work at The UPS Store, assume that we handle packing and shipping, and process Amazon returns. Our The UPS Store in Historic Uptown St. Pete is more than a Packing and Shipping store. Our business is much more than that.
The UPS Store is dedicated to the success of the communities where we live and work. What keeps The UPS Store at the top of the business services industry is the services beyond packing and shipping that locations like our The UPS Store in Historic Uptown St. Pete offers.
With more than 5,100 locations across North America, every The UPS Store location is independently owned and operated by licensed franchisees. We take extreme pride that we are a local neighborhood partner, offering our small business customers an extensive set of printing, shipping, and business services at our one-stop shop. As a result of our continued dedication, we are proud to be the only 4.8-star Google and Yelp-rated store in our area.
We are a full-fledged print shop with our own resident graphic designer, and a promise to offer our customers the best industry pricing on print jobs with unsurpassed quality and service. We help businesses with all sorts of marketing needs; including custom yard signs, banners, feather signs, flags, A-frames, marketing material (posters, flyers, decals, pop-up displays, magnets, postcards, notepads, sticky notes, etc.), and business cards.
We offer mailboxes, with real street addresses, for business and personal use. Our mailbox services include 24-hour access so you can pick up your mail when it’s convenient for you. Also, we receive your mail and packages and hold them in our secure location for pickup at your convenience or forward them to you wherever you are.
Our The UPS Store at 740 4th Street North in St. Pete specializes in packing and shipping fragile and high-value items, including fine art, glass art, antiques, and collectibles. We have been selected as the preferred provider to many auction houses in the area and we provide pick-up services to allow us to securely pack and ship the valuables at our store.
Finally, we provide a gamut of other services including notary (every hour we are open), fingerprinting, copying, faxing, and shredding, to name a few.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
One lesson we learned in life that we uphold tightly even in business is that it is best not to leverage yourself beyond your means. When we came to purchase our business, we met with a lot of financial institutions and CPAs to study our options. One option was the Rollover for Business Start-up (ROBS) program. ROBS is an arrangement in which current or prospective business owners use their 401(k), IRA or other retirement funds to pay for new business start-up costs, for business acquisition costs or to refinance an existing business. The advantage of ROBS is that you are able to use your retirement savings to fund a business, tax and penalty free. A ROBS isn’t a business loan nor a loan from your 401(k), which means there are no interest payments to make or debt to repay. It’s a way for you to utilize retirement funds to provide capital to your business.
Having said that, we would like to caution that ROBS isn’t for everyone…it does come with a lot of strict guidelines to adhere to and follow, as well as risks in that the success or failure of the business will affect an individual’s retirement goals. We highly recommend that business owners really study the pros and cons of this program before they decide which way is best for their individual needs.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Contrary to what people think, our The UPS Store on 740 4th Street North is locally owned and operated right here in St. Pete. We live and work in our community. We are a family run business. When you come to our store, we treat you as our own family! It all starts with our wonderful staff who are trained to do the same and thrive on 100% customer satisfaction. We believe that if we can help our customers prosper and be successful, we will as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theupsstore.com/6886
- Instagram: @theupsstore6886
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUPSStore6886
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18024957/admin/feed/posts/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-ups-store-saint-petersburg-6
Image Credits
Moments of St. Pete (Amanda Mayer)