For more than 30 years, entrepreneurs have been benefiting from franchise ownership with The UPS Store, Inc.  The UPS Store, offers products and services designed to help small business owners and continually ranks #1* in its category by Entrepreneur Magazine's "Franchise 500".  Franchise opportunities are now available in your community. *Entrepreneur's Franchise 500® 1990-2003 listed as the Mail Boxes Etc. brand.

The UPS Store was named #10 in their category in the 2013 American Brand Excellence Awards. Over 250 business brands were rated and over 2,200 small business owners and managers participated in The Business Journals' annual proprietary study. The winning companies were chosen as the brands who best met the needs of small and mid-sized business owners and managers.

The most recent Census Data shows that nearly 95% percent of the United States is rural open space, and slightly less than one in three Americans lives in an area that would be considered non-urbanized. With this in mind, The UPS Store today introduced its Main Street franchise model making it easier for potential franchisees to open new locations in small towns and rural communities.  By prioritizing this demographic, The UPS Store looks forward to expanding its footprint beyond the existing 4,300 locations. While many small business owners rely on the experts at their local The UPS Store to achieve their goals, for those located in more remote locations, tapping into that expertise - or even getting help with everyday business needs like shipping - can be a challenge. The UPS Store wants to ensure that all small business owners have access to the expertise and resources they need (from packing and shipping to mailboxes and printing services) to keep their businesses running successfully - regardless of their location.

The new model offers:
* Significantly reduced franchise fees saving $20,000 when opening a Main Street franchise location as compared to a traditional The UPS Store center
* Lower startup costs saving an additional $40,000-60,000 as compared to a traditional The UPS Store center
* Operational flexibility to accommodate the business needs of smaller towns and communities
* Scaled - down design requirements to limit build-out costs and take advantage of available real estate

We are meeting with Chris Adkins, vice president of franchise development.  Click the link  below to listen to the show.