How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

sessed with eiboscing his wasiato the
5385-million-a-vcar (at rctaill electric
shaver market . This is a <strong>business</strong>
the Wahls ha~e long eved . "When I
Survival of the biggest
was 14 [in 19411, mv father shoued
me an electric shacer he had partly put Hr-Lo ACTO)dOTi': F., I\'( : . looked
together," sa}°s Wahl . "But he said like a uinner %i hen Fokr, ::s risited the
ever•one was coining out w ith one, so auto parts <strong>and</strong> accessories retailer
he didn't go ahead «ith it ."
three 1cars ago (FotusFS, Au~q. 3,
Wahl Clipper's neNc sha~ er came on 1992) . Based in Houston, Hi-Lo's
the market at the end of 1993 . Called 122 stores in Texas <strong>and</strong> Louisiana
the Custom Sha~e S~-stem, it comes generated S156 miilion of sales <strong>and</strong>
with three different foils, die pertorated
metal coNer above the cutting NYS~ stock later hit a high of 21?is in
55 .7 million in earnings in 1991 ; the
blades . The more holes in the foil, the December of 1992 .
closer the shave . With three foils to But that mas before b[g competitorsAutoZone,
Pep Boy°s <strong>and</strong> Chief
choose from, the user can customizc
his shme . "This [sharer] is just like Auto Pans rapidh esp<strong>and</strong>ed into
the hair clipper," says Wahl . "It just Hi-Lo's ten:ton . Among them these
cuts the hair a lot cioser ."
interlopers Ira e opened in the past
In tackling the electric shax er market,
Wahl is either foolhardv or sen= Houston, Hi-Lo's biggest ntarker .
couple of} ears about 20 ne%~ stores in
smart . The market is dominated br Hi-Lo tried co'ght back byr exn<strong>and</strong>ing
into Caiitbrnia, but that hailed to
giant Philips' Norelco br<strong>and</strong>, with
half the <strong>business</strong>, <strong>and</strong> Remington help earnings : On sales of S60 million
Products Inc ., with 25"/a . Fighting for for the first quarter of 1995, Hi-Lo
the rcmainder are companies like Gillette
Co .'s Braun, Panasonic <strong>and</strong> been trading around 11 fur t'ne past
earned just 5700 .000 . The stock'nas
Conair . Tl:ec probabh• spend S40 nvo Vears .
million to S50 million combined annualle
to advertise their sha% ers . Young sa vs the cotapamy had nco
Hi-Lo ChiefExecuti%, _%4ichael
"Y ou r success or failure is not based
on how much aou spend on rv," ?
declares lVahl, "but ho«\\ell sou 3
spend it ." When a reporter savs he `
hasn't seen a.n ad for the Wahl shaeers,
he shoots back : "You lead a sheltered
life . Haven't vou ecer seen our'Dancing
Mustache' Ts' ads?"
I f the shaver bo mbs [Y'ahl «°on't go
out of <strong>business</strong> . Besides its cliopers far
humans, Wahl makes electric clippers
for animals . It also makes small power
roois, such as drills for hobbyints . But
Jack, Wahl savs the companl•'s future
lies in electric shavers : "This is the
product die next generation of Wahl
Clipper people will end up selling ."
The next generationi That's Jack's
son Gregory . 44, the compam's chief
operating ot}icer, <strong>and</strong> Gre~11on1's
vounger brother Mark, \eho runs the
animal products division . Greg sars
he isn't zs Itot on the electric sha~er as
his dad is, <strong>and</strong> wnuld prefer to push
harder on small electric toots instead .
"But when lather savs jump," he saes,
"I jump ." After ill, if Dad hadn't
jumped into consumer products 18 C :`,ef's David Esen,berg (IeY) <strong>and</strong> Ffi-Lo's Michae' Yor :ng
cears ago, there :night not h ;tk e been "Get real, real big real fast or sell ."
jobs for Greg <strong>and</strong> %lark todav. M
choiees. "Get real, rcal big real Past
or se9 ." Young chose the latter . Ou
June 1 Hi-Lo announced it \\ill be
acquired by D .illas-based rival Chief
Auro Parts Inc . for about S121 milliorn
in cash, S I 1 a siiare . The deal «'ill
make Chief thc nation's secondargest
auto parts chain i aher Auto-
Zoncj, «ith more than 700 stores ;
some 50 neu- stores will open by the
end oftttis s°ear. The 5-f00 million
f estimated sales) Chiefchain is owned
bc Trust Co . of the T1'est .
What does the future hoid for
Young, 50, a formerArthtu Andersen
partner %cho joined Hi-Lo ~chen
Dillon, Read did a 573 million le%eraged
buyrout ofthe chain in 1987?
Posnnergcr,'.~e plans to stcp aside for
Do i(i Eisenberg, chiefexecutire of
Chiet; <strong>and</strong> soon start scouting for
other bu}'out possibilities . "After
~ou'l e run sometlting ~ourself ;" he
sacs, "you want au oppor?unitv to
continue to do so ."
-CAROL 15L W .iSd .ER
Forbes 0 Au,ust 14, 1995 145
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