Steven Koeppel
Scottsdale Jean Company
Title: Owner
Est: 2005  |  www.scottsdalejc.com

“You can never learn too much and you can never be too smart – ask a lot of questions.” – Steven Koeppel, owner of Scottsdale Jean Company

When it comes to battling with the best in the retail clothing world, Scottsdale Jean Company is Arizona’s largest, successful independent retail store, standing strong against big guys like Macy’s and Nordstoms.

Despite its name, Scottsdale Jean Company carries more than jeans. While jeans make up 55 percent of the business, men’s and women’s clothing collections, jewelry, accessories, and sunglasses make up the rest. More than 100 designer brands, including Michael Stars and True Religion, fill the 10,000-square-foot store in the Scottsdale Airpark. The store also carries the exclusive line of skin, hair and body products, Kiehl’s.

Scottsdale Jean Company began when Koeppel sold his automobile business in the New York City area in 2004. He then moved to Arizona with a few ideas, but saw a void in the market for the business he has since established.

Even though moving from cars to clothes may have been a difficult transition, Koeppel learned that “business is business.” His experience running a large chain in New York proved to be invaluable when opening up Scottsdale Jean Company. Koeppel self-funded his Arizona business from the beginning and was successful from day one.

“If you have a good foundation you can do anything,” Koeppel says.

Although the company closed a second store in Peoria, Scottsdale Jean Company has 18 employees and is still staying profitable during this economic downturn.

“We have a very well-run, viable business. It is just a matter of waiting through these times, doing what we have to do, and wait for things to turn,” Koeppel says.

Plans for the future consist of expanding the store out of state and rebuilding the company website.

“We are now one of the premier stores in the country and we put a great name in the industry. We do sizeable business online and we ship all over the world, which has helped us to develop and build a name not just in Arizona, but everywhere,” Koeppel says.

The company’s website features a personal shopper and live, online help to answer any questions while visitors browse the site. The website is a marketing tool that can track where most of the traffic is coming from and how it got there. According to Koeppel, this is a great way to gear specific advertising toward that market.

“The most important thing in Internet marketing and online sales is people finding you. We optimize keywords and are getting about 1,000 visitors a day at this point,” Koeppel says.

When all is said and done, Koeppel’s No. 1 advice to fellow business owners is to “make sure you have a thorough business plan. Not everyone opens their doors and is successful the moment they open.”

Arizona Business Magazine June 2010