The greater good x retail =

By Dick Hughes  

NOVEMBER 5, 2010 11:41 a.m. (0)

With successful careers in hand, June Wilcox, John Hampson and Tim Mesaric sat around wondering what to do next.  There were two conditions: it had to do good, and it had to make money. In that order.

Out of the soul-searching came TimesTwo, a retail business that turns orthodox retailing on its head. Charity is the first goal and making enough money for costs and a profit follows, though with intent the purposes work in harmony.

The concept is simple. For every product TimesTwo sells, the company will give away an identical or similar item to a local charity.

Making it work is the hard part. But the partners believe TimesTwo not only will work, but can become a national lifestyle brand that lets “good people live fulfilled by doing good every day in their purchase decisions.”

Says Wilcox, “Our long-term vision is to take a model from the Greenville community and replicate it anywhere in the country.”

By mid-November, TimesTwo will offer a line of baby clothing online and at its office and retail store at 12 E. Stone Ave. in Greenville.  Prices range from $9 to $14.

The Family Effects, a local mission that assists children and their families where addiction is a root cause of abuse, will receive identical items for every one sold.

Mesaric says TimesTwo is starting online and in direct sales from its Stone Avenue store, “then, depending on partnerships in the community, there might be items placed in stores around town as well.”

Wilcox says TimesTwo chose baby items because they are needed by consumers and because The Family Effects “helps a lot of young mothers.”

“The next set is personal family hygiene and emergency supply items, and then in the spring we are going to get school supplies.”

They recognize that finding customers who share their values is not enough. They will have to offer high quality merchandise at competitive prices.

“The price will be competitive with a normal downtown retail business,” says Hampson. “We will not be competitive with a Wal-Mart.  We’re not trying to serve a consumer who is looking for a cheap quality deal.  We are trying to target the consumer who wants to buy with their principles and values.”

Mesaric says they will seek retail partners but know it will be a challenge finding retailers who share their values and are willing to give up space and margin, which is “why we are focusing online and on direct purchase from us. The boutiques would be nice, but online and direct is more the route we are trying to exploit.”

Wilcox, Mesaric and Hampson came together at the adec group, a Greenville IT consulting business where Wilcox is president, Mesaric vice president and Hampson an advisor “not technically ours (but) we claim him as one of us any chance we get.”

“Even though all three of us had successful business careers, there was something missing,” says Hampson.   “There was a level of self-fulfillment in our careers that just wasn’t there. The problem was the inability to do good for the people in the community.”

Hampson, 47, of Simpsonville, left Michelin last year after 21 years in senior management in Great Britain, Europe and the United States to establish a consulting company, Fastur Group.

Wilcox, 40, of Gray Court, who has a master’s degree in international business from the Darla Moore School of Business, established the adec group 11 years ago after working for Motorola in Brazil.

Mesaric, 35, of Greenville has been with the company for 10 years.

At TimesTwo, there are no officers, no titles, no bosses.

TimesTwo merges their civic-mindedness with their jobs.  “We all did lot of work in the community with groups and missions and were very active; but since we spend so much time working, what we do should make a difference in more than just paying bills and running payroll,” explains Wilcox.

Giving one away for each one sold doubles the cost of inventory, so how does TimesTwo expect to sell at a competitive price, give away what it promises and turn a profit?

“It’s very difficult, and that’s our challenge,” says Wilcox.  The company will be “as efficient as we can possibly be.”

That means bypassing middle men, funding everything with cash, keeping administration bare-bones, paying themselves no salaries until a profit is turned and operating from a central location.

“If we just wanted to make money, we wouldn’t do TimesTwo. We are not a charity or any other kind of not-for-profit organization.  Let’s be clear, this a for-profit venture, but we consider ourselves ‘conscious capitalists.’”