Growing by leaps and Zounds

Just 15 months ago, Mesa entrepreneur Sam Thomasson opened his first store to sell his new invention, Zounds, a hearing aid aimed at significantly reducing background noise and eliminating screeching feedback.

On Wednesday, Thomasson was at Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix to celebrate the grand opening of his 14th store.

If one new store a month sounds like meteoric growth, note that Zounds plans to double that, opening 15 more locations before the end of this year, said CEO John Costello.

Thomasson hired Costello, former executive vice president for merchandising at Home Depot, to expand Zounds' retail operation. Zounds' store design is as groundbreaking as Thomasson's hearing aid is, Costello said.

Designed as a one-stop shop, a customer can get a free hearing test, have a device fitted, receive instructions on how to use it, try it out on a telephone call, in heavy traffic and in a restaurant setting and repeat the hearing test wearing the tailored device before even deciding whether to buy it, he said.

"The (store) concept is experiential," Thomasson said. "A lot of people with hearing aids have been told a lot of stuff in the past. We wanted to show them."

So right in the front of the store is a simulated restaurant environment complete with table settings and a button to push that approximates the typical dining din.Other in-store stations offer similar simulated experiences.

Restaurant scenarios are the No. 1 issue for people who wear hearing aids, said Thomasson, whose daughter is hard of hearing and was the inspiration for the design of the device.

While a mall doesn't seem a likely spot for a hearing aid store, Thomasson said he wanted to bring the business to the customers, including the many mall walkers who exercise and window shop on a daily basis.

And Westcor, which owns the shopping center, is thrilled to have a business that is "unique and exciting" and "adds another customer service for shoppers," said Courtney Papillon, Paradise Valley Mall's marketing manager.

Costello wouldn't reveal Zounds' detailed growth plans beyond this year's astounding 100 percent increase in stores in eight months.

But he said with baby boomers entering their 60s and their children listening to lots of music at high volumes, "we believe the hearing market is looking at decades of growth."

"We believe the United States has the capacity for hundreds of stores," Costello said.

And when that market nears saturation, he plans to expand Zounds internationally, he said.