TUSCUMBIA – The Quad Cities Daily is pleased to recognize Farris Wholesale Outlet, Inc. of Tuscumbia as one of our celebrated local small businesses. Last week, at a ceremony at Farris’ facility on Highway 43 and 72A, Colbert County Probate Judge Daniel Rosser presented Farris Wholesale Outlet with a Certificate of Recognition by Alabama Governor, Kay Ivey. The Governor believes that Small businesses are the backbone of Alabama’s economy and she selected Farris to be the most recent example of success that comes from hard work, honest dealings, and customer & employee appreciation.
Farris Wholesale Outlet in Tuscumbia buys and sells general merchandise closeouts. Excess merchandise, discontinued items and excess specialty merchandise for big retailers after the sales program is finished. Everything they sell is new and unused merchandise. They wholesale their acquisitions to other businesses who retail it to the public. It is never “returned merchandise”. Farris works with community organizations, such as Easter Seals, where they send big boxes of merchandise for sorting and repackaging. This gives jobs and income to the people that the non-profits serve.
Norman Farris
Norman Farris has, since his childhood, been interested in fixing-up and re-selling things to make extra money. As a boy, he could frequently be found cruising yard sales and curbside throw-aways for things. His talent for turning “coal into gold” stemmed out of necessity, as the money he made as a child helped out his family of modest means. It was through this serendipity, that Farris discovered that he could actually build a real business from reselling stuff. He, along with his wife, his son and daughter have worked for over 25 years together to turn a small cottage business into a substantial enterprise. “I think that anyone, if they set their focus on the prize, and find a good balance between work and home, can accomplish pretty much anything they set their mind to in life,” said Farris.
Farris acknowledges that his interests lie in the acquisition and reselling the merchandise, but says that he really doesn’t enjoy working the business-end of the company. And that is where his wife, Michelle and their children, Tyler and Rachel come in. Farris gives the credit to keeping the business humming to his family. He said that they are they key to finding that balance in his life that allows him to be successful.
Tyler Farris, who manages the day-to-day operations, told the Quad Cities Daily that his family is blessed to have the opportunity to work alongside their employees, who, to him, are members of his family. And he gives the employees the credit as key to making Farris Wholesale Outlet sucessful. “As we’ve been able to bring into the company people from The Shoals, they have become part of our family. And they’ve had a substantial impact on us and our lives. The people that work with us are great quality people and they’re the reason we’re sucessful,” Tyler said.
Tyler Farris
Michelle Farris
Michelle Farris acknowledges that they started out just working a job to survive. Things at the beginning did not come easy. “Norman had a gift. And he would be out every day to buy and sell merchandise, and I would be the one to manage the paperwork and keep that side of the business going. It’s been amazing. That’s where it started out, just our little family. It’s been amazing to me as we’ve gone through the years and Tyler’s grown up, and his sister Rachel’s grown up that they’re both working side-by-side with Norman and me,” she said, “The Lord has blessed us in so many ways! And I just pray that this business continues and that it blesses other people in the Community.”
