It could almost be considered a sleeper company, operating quietly for eight years in a Southside Jacksonville office park.
However, Store51 LLC, whose main website is oBedding.com, has been waking up buyers interested in creating a bedroom environment decorated with the latest themes for girls, boys, students and adults, from movies to performers to animals to Disney to college and professional sports teams.
Jacksonville resident and financial software professional Murali Vadakkemadhom, 46, established the online-sales company in 2005.
A walk through the several office-warehouse units he occupies in EastPark shows rows, shelves and boxes of comforters, sheets, pillowcases and decorations featuring, for example, Justin Bieber, Hello Kitty, the University of Florida, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Heat, to name a few of the themes represented among the more than 3,000 items stored in the combined 17,000 square feet of space.
He expects $5 million in sales this year and $7 million to $8 million next year.
To accommodate growth, Murali, which he prefers to be called, bought a 65,500-square-foot office-warehouse nearby at 11660 Central Parkway.
After renovations of the building, which had been vacant about three years, he hopes to move in by the end of August.
Murali Holdings LLC paid $2 million for the six-acre property in a June 27 sale.
As a result, he said he might double his 10-person staff within three years and also start manufacturing his own line of bedding within two years.
"It will be a game-changer in the whole industry," he said. "I absolutely believe we want to do the manufacturing here."
Murali grew up in India and with his financial and software background, had three offers, and three visas, to work in the United States.
He started in 1997 in Boise, Idaho, moving on to Portland, Ore., Seattle and Boston.
While in Boston, he joined the global information technology company Oracle Corp.
His job required travel to work with Fortune 500 companies and he found himself each evening with time to plan.
"For seven years or so, every Monday morning I was at the airport," he said.
"I was working and traveling and I had time, from 7 to midnight, to work on this," he said. "I always had the startup bug."
In 1998, he started some online sales during the very early stage of e-commerce, grappling with what to sell. He tried selling more than 10 categories of items, starting with small electronics. Eventually he decided to focus on the kids' and teen bedding niche.
The reason was the big department stores didn't have enough shelf space to carry all of the themed bedding in demand.
That also was what he considered a barrier to entry on his side because of the space involved, but he figured out the logistics.
He buys the products from manufacturers and stores the shipped goods in his EastPark units, now five of them. EastPark is along Beach Boulevard between St. Johns Bluff Road and the Interstate 295 East Beltway.
Murali ships the online-ordered products to customers in more than 100 countries, including businesses that buy the bedding for resale.
Last year's big seller was Justin Bieber-themed items. Sports themes sell the most from October-December.
The lead time from manufacturers can be four months and most of the goods are made overseas, which is why Murali wants to start making some products here.
Murali said he and his wife, Sumathi, who is the company's bookkeeper, and their children a 16-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter, moved to Jacksonville from Boston. The children attend Stanton College Preparatory School and aspire to become doctors.
He chose Northeast Florida for the weather and the state's lack of an income tax.
He also designed a work-life balance in which he's off at 5 p.m. daily and doesn't work Saturday or Sunday. The office is open 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
"It was really an expression of ourselves," he said of the business.
"I always wanted to be on my own and run a business. At work, I felt boxed in one area," he said
Now, the boxes are what have expanded his horizons.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466