Lon continued working with those conditions because
the natural health products store business was helping
many customers each month with their health-care
issues, and Lon realized that the work was enabling him
to learn additional very important and valuable
natural health-care and wellness concepts.
Lon was patiently optimistic about this situation. He
believed that he would eventually develop ways to have
enough profit margin to begin paying him a reasonable
monthly income for his very valuable store management
services and his very important natural health-care and
wellness concepts education services for store
customers. He was also pleased that the health store
was helping a lot of customers monthly with their natural
health-care concerns.
Lon tried to develop new ways of conducting
business, including offering free introductory natural
health-care concepts education classes in our health
store classroom. However, nothing that he did was able
to overcome the dominating competition that had
gradually developed locally with several major competitors
and the growing Internet nutrition products sales
competition.
Big local stores like BJ's, Costco, Sam's Club, Target,
Vitamin Shoppe, and Walmart were offering a lot of
nutrition type products for sale at discount prices.
Lon did not understand how they could afford to
discount their product prices so much and still make a
manageable reasonable profit.
Finally, during year 2013, Lon learned that the large
chain stores could buy nutrition products at much better
wholesale prices (lower prices) than small independent
health stores because the large chain type stores could
buy in large volume wholesale orders and get lower
wholesale prices for their large purchases.
Lon finally learned that small volume wholesale
purchase orders that small independent health stores
placed with various manufacturers or product
distributors were in fact paying substantially higher
wholesale prices for the products that they purchased.
Many years had passed before Lon learned about the
multiple tiers of wholesale prices. He finally learned that
there was one level of wholesale price discounts for
small independent health stores - stores who would
usually place relatively small wholesale orders for each
individual brand of products that they purchased from
various nutrition companies (various brands), and there
was a much better discount price level available for large
wholesale orders (thousands of dollars), and then even
better discount wholesale prices for even larger
wholesale orders (many thousands of dollars).
None of the multiple nutrition product companies that
Lon had been purchasing health store type products from
for years (at there advertised wholesale prices) had
informed him about the aditional tiers of wholesales
prices that were available from their company for much
larger product orders.
For many years, Lon had thought that all health stores
were getting the same wholesale prices that he was
getting with his wholesale product purchases from each
nutrition products distributing company (he purchased
several brands of products from various health product
manufacturers or their distributors).
Consequently, for many years, Lon did not realize that
much better wholesale prices were available for large
orders (large companies and chain store businesses)
who could place very large wholesale orders to get those
better wholesale prices.
Chain types businesses could purchase one large
product order and then distribute those bulk buying
health store type products internally to their various
store locations. They could then sell those products at
discounted prices and still make reasonable profit
margins for those product sales.
Small independent health stores could not compete
with those discounted prices because their relatively
small wholesale purchases could not qualify for those
lower wholesale prices.
Lon eventually learned (in year 2013) that those
situations enabled the large chain type stores to buy
large nutrition product purchases and then sell those
health store type products at deep discount prices,
making a reduced but manageable retail profit margin.
Grocery chain stores and pharmacy chain type stores
also started stocking more health store type nutrition
products as their customers' interest in buying those
type of products increased.
Those chain type stores could therefore afford to sell
those health store type products at discounted prices
and still make a reduced but acceptable retail profit
margin.
There was no feasible way for ABC of Health, or other
small independent health stores, to compete with chain
type store's "discounted prices" because the small
health stores were having to pay substantially more for
products when they purchased products wholesale for
resale in their small health stores.
Lon finally learned in year 2013 why ABC of Health
could not compete with those chain type stores
successfully.
ABC of Health did not have enough wholesale buying
power to compete successfully with multi-million dollar
chain stores such as BJ's, Costco, Earth Fare, K-Mart,
Sam's Club, Target, Vitamin Shoppe, Walmart, and the
very large "Whole Foods" health food store that
had been built in Greenville (about four miles away from
the ABC of Health natural health products store).
After years of trying to develop ways to compete
successfully in the greatly changed marketplace, Lon
and Janie eventually realized that there was no practical
way for them to compete with the discount prices that
Internet type stores and the large local chain type stores
in the Greenville area were using to sell health store type
products.
Lon and Janie reluctantly decided to close the ABC of
Health natural health product store business on April 24,
2014 (near the end of their current lease contract of the
store facility). They had been in business for 15 years
when that occurred. (1/04/1999 to 4/24/2014)
Lon realized that ABC of Health was still helping
numerous customers each month, but the store had been
losing money at the rate of $2,000 to $4,000 per month
for many months (without Lon being paid anything for his
valuable health store management services and his
customer support services).
Finally realizing that there was no practical
reasonable way of reversing those sales deficiency
situations, due to dominating competition for those sales
of health store type products, Lon and Janie closed the
ABC of Health store permanently on a date that would
give them a few days to get moved out of the store
facility by the end of their annual renewable lease term.
It was finally clear that ABC of Health did not have
sufficient wholesale buying power to compete
successfully with local chain type businesses or the
large Internet type businesses that were selling
health store type products at deep discount prices.
It was not possible for ABC of Health, or other small
health stores, to compete with Internet type businesses
that sold health store type products at deep discount
prices and also offered convenient free shipping for most
customer purchases.
Although the ABC of Health store was closed, the
ABC of Health Corporation chose to remain in business
as a natural health-care and wellness concepts education
company.
Unfortunately for Lon and Janie, most people had been
getting some helpful free health-care education services
at small health stores for years, and they did not want to
start paying for the very important natural health-care
and wellness concepts consultation services that ABC of
Health was now offering education customers with Lon
Willoughby for reasonable consultation fees.
People who had never paid for a natural health-care
and wellness concepts consultation service did not
understand how beneficial those vital consultation
services could be to an individual or to a family unit.
Lon and Janie found that local American adults were
literally dying prematurely without the natural health-
care and wellness concepts consultation education
services that they needed badly.
Citizens did not realize and understand that the vital
natural health-care and wellness concepts consultation
services that Lon Willoughby could provide could be life-
changing education and even life-saving health-care
education for many clients. Consequently, they
did not realize how smart and wise it would be to gladly
pay for a natural health-care and wellness consultation
service with Lon Willoughby.
The health store market place had changed a lot, and
almost all health store customers had serious difficulty
adjusting to those changes in a responsible and sensible
manner.
Lon's Super Valuable
Natural Health-care Knowledge
Lon and Janie Willoughby realized that he had acquired a lot
of alternative health type natural healthcare and wellness
concepts knowledge that was very important and very valuable.
He had worked long hours for 15+ years with no pay at all (80
to 90 hours per week), but he had learned life-changing and life-
saving healthcare and wellness concepts knowledge that could
be very important and helpful to many American citizens. As
stated above, hardly anyone was willing to pay a reasonable
consultation fee to obtain vital natural healthcare and wellness
concepts education services from Lon at ABC of Health.
How could Lon continue helping American citizens?
Lon realized that he had learned how to help many American
citizens improve their natural healthcare and wellness concepts
actions (diet, exercise, lifestyles, and nutrition supplements) in
remarkable ways that most Americans needed to know about.
Lon and Janie realized that they needed to develop a practical
way for many Americans to obtain access to Lon's special natural
healthcare and wellness concepts knowledge. They believed that
most American adults were capable of learning how to take much
better care of their natural healthcare assets - they just needed
some practical education about those vital healthcare issues.
Could Lon and Janie develop a natural healthcare concepts
education program that might enable them to reach out to large
numbers of adult American citizens and educate them about
some of Lon's very important and valuable alternative
health type natural healthcare and wellness concepts?
Could these two trained and experienced educators
develop a natural healthcare and wellness concepts
education program to help accomplish that objective?
Could such an education program be profitable enough
to enable Lon and Janie to recover some of the hundreds
of thousands of dollars that they had loaned the ABC of
Health store during its 15 years of operation?
They had gradually loaned all of their IRA retirement
funds to the business in order to continue operating, and
now they had no retirement funds in any IRA account.
(Remember that Lon did not receive any salary or wages
at all during those very challenging 15 years of service).
What motivated them to try to stay in business when they
were obviously losing money in the health store business?
Lon and Janie realized that tens of thousands of Americans
were dying prematurely in the USA each week that passed
because those sick and diseased citizens did not have access to
Lon's natural healthcare and wellness concepts education. For
many years, Lon believed that he would develop a way to make
the business profitable. Unfortunately, that never occurred.
Lon gradually learned in a very expensive way that ABC of
Health did not have the large wholesale buying power that was
needed to successfully compete with multi-million dollar chain
type stores in the local area that had begun selling health store
type products at deep discount prices (BJ's, Costco, Sam's Club,
Target, Walmart, etc.).
Many large local chain grocery stores and many local chain
pharmacy stores were selling health store type products at
discount prices. Lon eventually realized that ABC of Health
could no longer make adequate retail profits by trying to sell
health store type products. It was now clear to Lon that a small
independent health store could not compete with those deeply
discounted retail prices.
Internet businesses such as Amazon.com, and other Internet
businesses, were also selling health store type products at deep
discount prices. There was no feasible way for small independent
health products stores to compete in the greatly changed market
place due to deeply discounted prices for health store products.
It was clear to Lon that the days of the small independent
health stores had unfortunately come to an end, and thousands
of those stores had already gone out of business by year 2013.
Nine local independent health stores had already closed.
Lon realized that almost all of the small independent health
stores in America would eventually have to go out of business
because they cannot compete successfully with the discounted
prices that were becoming easy to find in the marketplace.
During recent years, even the franchised GNC health store
businesses have had great difficulty in the very competitive
discounted prices marketplace. GNC has already had several
hundred nutrition products stores close (America and Canada).
What adverse affects are these thousands of
health store closures having on consumers?
Lon and Janie realized that millions of American consumers
are being affected harmfully by those health store closing actions.
Why? Because consumers no longer have access to very helpful
healthcare and nutrition information that was commonly available
in thousands of small health stores throughout America.
Many thousands of those helpful nutrition oriented and
experienced health store employees have lost their jobs with the
closure of thousands of small independent health stores.
Multi-million dollar businesses such as Kmart and Sears have
also gone bankrupt in this changing marketplace, along with
thousands of other small, medium, and large size businesses.
We have had major changes in the way that many millions of
Americans do business with Internet services and other mail-
order sales companies. Even Costco, Sam's Club, Target, and
Walmart chain stores have modified the ways they do business so
they can compete better with Internet type sales businesses.
Yes, tens of thousands of employees have lost their jobs due
to these rapidly expanding discounted price changes in America.
It is now clear that millions of health conscious shoppers can no
longer obtain important natural healthcare and wellness concepts
information that they used to be able to obtain at their local small
independent health store (now closed in thousands of locations).
Lon and Janie Gradually
Developed A New Business Plan
Stay with us for a while longer to see how Lon developed our
Americans 4 Justice education programs to effectively serve the
needs of thousands of health-conscious and patriotic-minded
American citizens that live in the upstate area of South Carolina.
The information below presents some very important concepts
that all health conscious Americans need to understand. Be
patient as we present some vital natural healthcare concepts.
Lon gradually developed an exciting way for many American
citizens in the upstate area of South Carolina to have very
convenient access to some of Lon's very important and very
valuable alternative health type natural healthcare and wellness
concepts knowledge. Remember that thousands of Americans
die weekly because they did not have access to Lon's vital natural
healthcare and wellness concepts education.
Our new business plan enables many American citizens to
have much better access than ever before to Lon's special
healthcare and wellness concepts knowledge. He can now help
many more American citizens, in much better ways and more
effective ways, than when the ABC of Health healthcare and
wellness store was in operation in Greenville County, SC.
Pause and consider seriously that Americans are dying
prematurely by the tens of thousands weekly because they did
not have access to Lon Willoughby's special natural healthcare
and wellness concepts educational services.
Are you beginning to understand how important and valuable
Lon's natural healthcare and wellness concepts education can be
to an American adult and their dependent living at home children?
Our sister educational website at ABCofHealth dot com has
been modified greatly by Lon (thousands of hours of work), and
that website now provides a lot of "free to review" natural
healthcare and wellness concepts education for Americans.
This health education is now available to American citizens
living anywhere within the USA. These vital natural healthcare
educational concepts can be life-changing education that can
help many American citizens at no cost ("free to review" info).
As you continue reviewing this A4J - SC website, you will see
that our Americans 4 Justice - SC patriotic club membership is
going to improve natural healthcare education opportunities a lot
for many natural-born American citizens that live in the upstate
area of South Carolina (more than a million SC citizens).
Eventually, ABC of Health will expand the geographic area for
"qualified visitors" that will be able to qualify to join our
Americans 4 Justice private education club membership.
However, in this early phase of this new A4J - SC private
education club business, we will focus our education efforts
on helping selected natural-born American citizens that live in
the upstate area - have a permanent home or residence address
that has a ZIP Code of 296 _ _ or 293 _ _ .
In this manner, our A4J private education membership club will
be able to help many thousands of "qualified visitors" in South
Carolina.