Thread: CO "Buy American" becomes business model for store

"Buy American" becomes business model for store owner


LITTLETON - It is a throwback to a simpler time, a time when we shopped at a small neighborhood market and purchased products crafted by American hands. That simpler time is being reborn in this anything-but-simple economic climate. It is the dream of a businessman, Bert Waisanen.

"I had an entrepreneurial itch for a number of years that I just had to scratch," Waisanen said.

What he is scratching is the surface of a solution to unemployment in this country. At Bert's All American Market, he sells only products made in the USA and tries to carry as many
as possible from Colorado.

"We have thousands of products in the store. People are coming in and buying them. That generates demand and orders at all of these other hundreds of companies, so yeah; we're trying to support hundreds of other employers, perhaps thousands of them, " Wasisanen said.

The market , located at 5856 S. Lowell Blvd., is also providing a year round venue for local farmers. As local farmers markets close for the season, Bert's All American Market sells their honey, jams and other products.

The idea of supporting local farmers and US companies resonates with customers.

"As a local business owner myself, you try to find other businesses within your community that you can keep the money flowing within your community, absolutely. It is huge," says Matthew Boulter, a customer at Bert's All American Market.

Waisanen says his business model is dispelling theories that US products can't compete from a price point with foreign products. He says most of the items he sells are priced closely to their foreign made counterparts.

At the end of the day, his goal is to have the market serve the community and in doing so, provide American jobs to the companies he buys products from.

"If at the same time we can help do our part to at least do something to put the economy on the right track and our customers can help by shopping here and doing the same thing, then that's why I want to do it," he said. "It makes me feel great."

http://www.9news.com/news/article/22211 ... tore-owner

Berts All American Market
http://www.bertsallamericanmarket.com/