Local Business Safety Products Opens Hoping To Fill A Need

     Chattanooga is growing with big manufacturing companies coming to town like Volkswagen and others.

     Some local entrepreneurs see a need in the community and move to fill it with a new small business.
     WDEF News 12's Mandy Odom shows us as we cover the economy.
     Safety Products sells industrial safety equipment like gloves, eyewear, hard hats, and vests, but it specializes in footwear.
     Company Chairman J. Raschke says, "I talked to a guy the other day who said, 'You know I live in Tennessee, and I had to go to Georgia to get my shoes, my boots.' So, that alone lets you know that there's a place that's needed that people can come in and feel comfortable. We have what they need."
     J Raschke and his two business partners saw the need  and seized the opportunity.
     He says, "If you can identity a need and fill it, then there's success." 
     Quincy Smith with ADM Trucking says, "A nice central location for all of our terminals for people to come in and just to be able to come in to a store, touch and feel, and then be able to take out what you want instead of order through a catalog and wait for something to come and then maybe it's what you wanted, maybe it's not."
     Quincy Smith with ADM Trucking recently started buying safety boots for his drivers from Safety Products.
     He says a relationship with a local company makes a big difference.
     Smith says, "They know exactly what our requirements are, and we don't have to send somebody back later, you didn't get the right type of boot or you didn't get the right type of equipment. So, that's a nice relationship we've had."
     Raschke says safety is a big part of manufacturing and with companies like Volkswagen coming to Chattanooga the options are limitless.
     Safety Products already supplies several local and regional companies.
     One selling point is their mobile showroom.
     Raschke says, "We're not huge, but the idea is to get this truck going everyday somewhere, and at that point we're going to hopefully add another one." "That's big business, and you got to protect your feet. So, that's what we do."
     In Chattanooga, Mandy Odom, WDEF News 12.
     Safety Products is located on Highway 58.