Local Supplement Superstore About to Expand — Again

Supplement Superstores have come a long way since their humble beginnings on Jan. 1, 2000. With locations throughout St. Louis, including the South County store located at 7437 S. Lindbergh Boulevard, owners Andrew Frisella and Chris Klein and are about to open their tenth location in Florissant. And, coming January of 2012, they are embarking on the franchise frontier.

These are big accomplishments for any business owner, but for Frisella and Klein, it is somewhere between obtaining the unimaginable milestone and nowhere near where they hope to go.

“I kind of have my own theory on entrepreneur-minded people,” Frisella said. “They always want to grow and try new things. Because of that, you get into a Catch-22. You are seeing some success, but you’re never able to enjoy it because you never feel like it’s good enough success.”

That is precisely the drive that has made them the supplement superstars of St. Louis. But their meager start into the world of entrepreneurialism was not built on the best laid plans. In fact, when Frisella and Klein opened their first store in Springfield, MO, the only real motivation was that they didn’t want to work.

“We didn’t want to get a real job. So we thought it would be easier to open a business, which was the total opposite of what it intended to be,” Frisella said.

The business partners met when they students at Vianney High School. They were both year round, multi-sport athletes. Eventually, they both landed together at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO.

At the time, going into the supplement business seemed to be a natural progression.

“It came down to sports supplements because we were both into that and we were both athletes and we knew a lot about it, so we thought,” Frisella said. “Looking back, we didn’t know anything. But it was a passion of ours.”

And lack of knowledge was not their only road block. They also suffered from a lack of funds.  They were young, inexperienced students; not exactly an investors' dream. Unable to raise capital, they resorted to more creative means.

“No one would rent to us because we didn’t have anything. We basically took the graduation money we had left over from high school and we came up with enough to pay our first year in rent in cash,” Frisella said. “Then we bought all our product with those credit cards that you can get on campus. So that’s how we stocked the store.”

Despite all their good intentions, the two struggled to make any money.

“Our first day open, we think we’re going to be rolling in the dough and making all this money. We sold $7 worth of stuff,” Frisella said.

However, in the spirit of true entrepreneurialism, they stuck with it, partly because they didn’t have a choice; rent was paid for a year in advance, and partly because they didn’t know any better. At times, they even slept in the back of the store because they were flat broke.

Perhaps an exercise in character building, Frisella admits that those days still give him inspiration.

“I think about that every day. I think that’s one of the things the keeps Chris and I both motivated to grow the business. You know, we don’t ever want to go back there,” he said.

Soon though, hard work and perseverance would overcome poverty and ignorance. The business began to take off. Right at time they were about to open their second Springfield location, the phone rang.

“I had a friend here in St. Louis who was getting out of the (supplement) business. His name was Attilio,” Frisella said. “I said, ‘Why don’t you not close the stores and we’ll work out a deal and I’ll take them over from you.’ We took over five stores.”

Since that, a lot of growing pains and rebranding have taken place. Frisella contends that what sets the Supplement Superstores apart of the competition is the kind of people they hire.

“Our company culture is something we have purposely created,” he said. “We’ll go through 100 applications to hire one person... for a retail job.”

They look for people who understand that to “walk through the door; it takes a lot of courage.”

“The best thing about this business is that you truly are helping people. When you see someone who’s lost 100 pounds, that really is life-changing. You can’t get that feeling very many places,” he said.

Whether people are looking to change their lives, run a big organization or just make some kind of impact, Frisella’s advice is to “never settle.”

“Chris and I have made every possible mistake you can make,” he said. “But, if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other, eventually, you’re going to get where you want to go."