With his uncle, he bought more costly items, which he sold again at the market. Then, he expanded to festivals and parades—Mylar balloons and souvenirs. Presto, he was a business man and paid his way through college. One summer, he spent eight days at the Rhode Island State Fair, worked 15 hours a day, and made $5,000. He was 17.
Eventually, his parents did buy a business, a small medical uniform shop—Heidi’s. Founded in 1950 as a “Mom and Pop,” Heidi’s had two locations—the flagship New Haven store (to be run by Evelyn), and Hartford (later opened in 1983 and managed by Sid). The company had originally done well, and in 1980, the Wiesners took over.
By the time Mike graduated from college in 1982 with a degree in finance, the stock market had begun to drop. Mike remembers how his professor/mentor said, “‘If you go to Wall Street, everyone there will be as smart and hardworking as you. If you go into your family’s business, you will be the cream that rises to the top.'” Mike listened.
Heidi’s did well at first, but then uniform styles began to change: Nursing caps and whites were out, and medical uniforms became “anything goes.” As the store started to flounder, Mike saw that his creativity and business acumen were what was the business needed, and so he joined his family.
He began pounding the pavement, looking for customers; he advertised in the Yellow Pages; he got the name of every customer who came into the store and where that person worked—then he called on that particular business; he joined “leads groups;” he broadened Heidi’s base and went into hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and industrial areas. “I had a lot of fun,” he says. “I would go out and call on a fancy country club, and then end up at a factory the same day.”
Business began to pick up once more. He kept the two stores open for his parents, but he looked into the future and saw that retail sales were much less promising than “B to B” (business to business) transactions. What was once 90% retail, and 10% group sales, Mike completely turned around.
Three years after Mike joined Heidi’s, he bought the company. Over time, he moved it from the original New Haven shop to its current 25,000 sq. ft. building in West Haven. Wherever he could, Mike gave Heidi’s customers a desirable, complete experience: He installed multiple embroidery machines and screen printing; as early as 2003, he also joined ASI and sold promotional products along with the uniforms—again the total presentation. He learned, and Heidi’s grew: From five employees to 18.
“Sales people and entrepreneurs have to be eternally optimistic. They must always see the glass as half full, not half empty. You need ego. If you don’t think you can win, don’t get into the game,” he warns. “Winning isn’t everything, and we all make a ton of mistakes. But you need to believe in yourself. You also need to believe in people; you need to have empathy for your customers and your salespeople. A good salesperson is ethical, not in your face, willing to commit to a long-term relationship, and brings value to the customer.”
A little over a year ago, Mike and his wife, Orna, decided they were ready to do other things, and his parents were ready to retire. He put the business up for sale—not to other uniform companies but to broad-based marketing firms. Thus, Heidi’s became part of an even larger consortium, thereby increasing its overall value to its customers and its overall sales.
Feury Marketing Group, with its 40,000 sq. ft. building in New Jersey, added its property and talents to the existing Heidi’s warehouse and store, totaling over 60,000 sq. ft. of successful, enticing, capabilities, and blending the concept of promotional products with uniforms, web design, graphic arts, and more: The ultimate image. “There are strong synergies between us, and together we deliver a powerful message,” Mike reiterates. Current package sales bring in as much as seven figures per client.
Mike now happily works for Feury, not only in this country but in Israel, where he searches out small to mid-sized companies that are looking for the same unique look that Feury (also Heidi’s) will provide there, as well as here.
“I have an enormous amount of freedom without the tremendous responsibilities, and I love the networking,” Mike Wiesner says. “I never want to grow up. Growing up is boring.”
