Though past retirement age, 71-year-old Jim Pretti continues to dabble in sales at Ozark Flag, which he purchased on a whim in 1982.
Business Spotlight: High Flying
Eric Olson
Posted online
In 1982, Jim Pretti walked in to a store to buy a flag and walked out as owner of the business.
Thirty-two years later, Pretti has parlayed the $42,000 transaction of Ozark Flag into a $500,000 annual distribution business of flags, flagpoles and accessories.
“I wouldn’t have chosen to get into it, but I’ve had it for 30 years,” says the 71-year-old Pretti. “It does all right.”
The business dates back to 1950, when A.W. “Bill” Wilcox began selling flags out of his north-side five and dime store. He had transitioned to a storefront at South Avenue and Pershing Street by that historic day for Pretti.
“I walked in and he said, ‘You’re buying this place.’ And I bought it,” Pretti says, adding Wilcox retired at the time of the inventory sale and died a few years ago.
Under Pretti, and operating as Ozark Flag Distributors LLC, business peaked in 2001 as the tragic events of 9/11 spurred U.S. citizens to patriotism. The nature of the flag business is cyclical based on current events and the human psyche.
“In 2001, I had them lined up to Battlefield,” Pretti says of the record year that finished with $800,000 in sales.
Oftentimes, Independence Day serves as Ozark Flag’s Black Friday, providing the sales bump to get the business over the annual profit hump. “I imagine this year it will because the weather’s been so bad,” he says.
Bookkeeper Joann Walker says last year finished with $466,000 in sales.
“That was a slow year,” Pretti adds, noting his role also has slowed as he ages.
Operations at the 500 W. Battlefield Road shop mainly rest in the hands of Walker and General Manager Mike DeWitt.
“It’s mostly the three of us, and I don’t do nothing,” Pretti says in his gravelly voice and in between puffs on his electronic cigarette. The longtime Springfieldian later acknowledges he still dabbles in sales, sometimes working from home. “I trust (DeWitt) to do pretty much what he wants to,” he says.
DeWitt says Ozark Flag’s on-site inventory is approaching 10,000 flags, and the company distributed 881 flags last month. Some months cross the 1,000 flag mark.
“Now, one day, it snowed so hard here, we sold $4.50,” Pretti quips.
With six decades of history and local name recognition, walk-in and phone orders represent the bulk of business, about 60 percent, and online sales comprise the remainder. Ozark Flag used to publish a product catalog, but now it runs e-commerce at OzarkFlag.com. Hosted by Dependable Internet LLC, the website plugs in Cart32 e-commerce software developed by Springfield-based McMurtrey/Whitaker & Associates Inc.
Co-owner Bryan Whitaker says Dependable Internet is among more than 100 resellers of the Cart32 shopping cart, and most are Web hosting companies.
“They buy our shopping cart and have it available for their customers,” Whitaker says of the pool of resellers, noting companies such as Ozark Flag use the e-commerce software but don’t deal directly with Cart32 support.
He says resellers set their own prices.
“They may throw it in for free or they may charge a monthly fee,” Whitaker says. “In some cases, people buy the licensed software from us for a one-time fee and pay us annually for support.”
Of the more than 2,000 websites using the Cart32 software, Whitaker says at least one is another flag company: ServiceFlags.com. Other notable sites using the shopping cart are FUL.com, LaserPrinterChecks.com and Clay-King.com, he says.
At OzarkFlag.com, individual country flags are available, from Abkazia to Zimbabwe, and in the store they’re illustrated on a Flags of the World wall of 3-by-5 inch handheld flags. The shop sells flags from Old Glory to favorite football teams, as well as military and religious-themed flags.
“We do have every country in the world. And what we ain’t got, we can get,” Pretti says, adding the company buys from national flag product dealers Concord Industries and Flag Zone.
According to the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems are a $300 million industry. The flag association estimates nearly $4 million worth of American flags are shipped into the country, mostly from China.
That’s not the case at Ozark Flag.
“I will not sell a flag that isn’t U.S. made,” Pretti says, noting, however, the flag brackets are imported out of necessity.
About a fourth of Ozark Flag orders are shipped out of state. Pretti says Ozark Flag delivered flags to New York, Tennessee, Indiana and Utah on a single day last week.
Around town, Ozark Flag products are seen lining the Mercy Hospital Springfield campus and flying high at Hammons Field. Pretti says OakStar Bank recently purchased an outdoor flagpole that Ozark Flag installed, and Downstream Casino is a regular flag customer.
Acknowledging he’s past retirement age, Pretti says he’s not sure what’s next for the business.
“I guess I’ll sell it. It’s been up for sale 32 years,” he says. “Oh, I’ve had offers. I want to sell it, but I don’t want to sell it.
Springfield event venue Belamour LLC gained new ownership; The Wok on West Bypass opened; and Hawk Barber & Shop closed on a business purchase that expanded its footprint to Ozark.
