In 25th year, Southern Safety Supply goes west
After her lease was up, president/owner Sara Sizemore recently moved her business from 3700 Pleasant Ridge Road in North Knoxville to 207 Center Park Drive, Suite 2090, the former Tennessee Highway Patrol driver’s license office.
She had a ribbon cutting Tuesday, Aug. 11, hosted by Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce, at the store’s new location near Farragut.
“This is a great Chamber,” she said. “They’re very helpful. I have a board of mentors who help me, and when this COVID hit, there was SCORE for small businesses.
“And the information the Chamber put out was, like, you got your money’s worth,” Sizemore said.
Southern Safety Supply provides all kinds of safety equipment, and her customers run the gamut of construction and trades industries, restoration, manufacturing, linesmen, core drillers and utility workers.
“It’s just mainly active people,” she said. “And then, we have our weekend warrors.”
Along with sales, “I will restock first-aid cabinets and check AED machines,” Sizemore said.
“Because with facilities’ management, like the airport, if you’ve got 10 to 15 AEDs, they really need to be in compliance, she added.
“To me, that’s such a small item to let the employees know their employers care for them.”
However, “Mainly what I do is commodities,” she said. “I sell the hard hats, clothing, gloves, respirators and anything they put on their bodies to go do their jobs.”
The store also carries confined space meters for people who have go in manholes and first-aid kits, along with refills.
“I try to carry items that people need right now,” Sizemore said.
A North Knoxville native, she first opened Southern Safety Supply along Pleasant Ridge Road in 2000, but she has been in the safety equipment retail business since 1997.
“A family member was selling welding equipment,” she recalled. “People kept asking for safety equipment. He didn’t want to sell it.”
So, he taught Sizemore.
Now, “We’re going to be turning 25 in December,” Sizemore said, recalling, “I had my first sale on Jan. 8, 1997, for $19.09.
“It’s gotten more exciting,” she added. “I really get passionate about it because I want (customers) to look as professional as they are. It’s good to look the part.”
Sizemore recalled one example of how her business had changed. “I don’t have to explain PPE anymore,” she said.
She also has seen more women going into the trades industries.
Sizemore remembered when “we didn’t know you shouldn’t pour paint thinner down the drain. I think it’s good more people are aware of protecting themselves.”
She has seen people become more aware of the need for safety equipment, including the evolution of safety harness improvements to prevent falls and companies requiring all employees to wear the same gear.
Sizemore also has seen product change, for example, from the simple latex gloves to nitrole,
Southern Safety Supply is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
For more information, call 865-673-0140, send an e-mail to sara@southernsafety.com or visit online at www.southernsafety.com.
