New Wave
Water stores that cater to budget-minded, health-conscious families are making a splash.
Fredrick Bozin's product has no taste. And that's just
fine: Tastelessness is, to him, the very point--although his
product is also pure, economical, and usable in every household in
his selling area.
What's Bozin selling? Try water. That's right; the
inventory at his Watermarket store in Fallbrook, California,
consists of gallons of clear, clean, inexpensive water. While other
entrepreneurs try their hands at new, cutting-edge products, Bozin
and a groundswell of water retailers like him are selling a product
as old as the hills.
Devoting an entire store to water isn't as strange as it
sounds. Water is a hot commodity. Why? People aren't entirely
satisfied with the water that comes from their taps. Sure, it's
supposed to be safe. But in some cities it's brown. Or it
smells. Or it has particles in it. And who knows what secret lead
or silent carcinogen lurks undetected in your glass?
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Traditionally, the alternative has been bottled water. In 1995,
Americans consumed some 2.7 billion gallons of bottled water--a
whopping 1,025 percent increase over 1975 figures, according to the
International Bottled Water Association. (And that doesn't even
include water sold out of stores like Bozin's because
statistics for this sector don't yet exist.) But standard
bottled water is rarely cheap. In some areas, five gallons of
home-delivered water cost $7.50. At the market, the least-expensive
generic brands sell for 50 cents or more.
Bozin's water, by contrast, costs a mere 25 cents a gallon.
And Bozin says the quality is as good as or better than more
expensive alternatives--a claim his customers seem likely to back.
On an average day, he sells between 950 and 1,100 gallons in spite
of the fact that Fallbrook has a population of just 32,000.
Bozin's secret: value, service and genuine quality. "Our
water is very clean," he says, "and it tastes
good."
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