BRUCE’S BACK IN BIZ

Legendary Bruce Ogilvie, founder of the famed Abbey Road Distributors, is back. Ogilvie has just bought a third interest in the Irvine, CA-based one-stop Super Discount. Founders Jeff Walker and David Hurwitz will continue handling the day to day, but look for big changes as Ogilvie steps in to help grow the company from its current $25 million revenue model.

And there should be room to grow, considering that Pacific Coast One Stop has just filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Alliance Entertainment has the distinction of being the only one-stop to ever emerge successfully from Chapter 11, and most in the industry don’t hold much hope that Pac Coast will become the second. Even though Ogilvie admits the pie is getting smaller for one-stops in general, he feels strongly about Super Discount’s prospects. "We have the will, desire and the systems to make it happen. Hopefully I can open some doors that have been shut."

Currently, they are open with all but one of the majors. Ogilivie made his mark at Abbey Road with an aggressive pricing strategy, and with a name like Super Discount, Ogilvie states the obvious: "If we can continue with that strategy, we will. But our focus is a simple one: We want to improve."

Ogilvie has been one of the most sought-after executives in his field (Pac Coast made no secret about aggressively pursuing him to solve their problems), so Hurwitz and Walker feel like they’ve pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

Says Hurwitz: "He’s been where we’re trying to go. Jeff and I will still be very active in the business, but we needed someone with ‘big picture’ vision."

SD boasts some 50 full-time employees who work out of an 18,000 sq. ft. facility in SoCal. Ogilvie sold his Abbey Road operation to Alliance in the early ‘90s for a reported $36 million. No figures are being released as to the dollar amount Ogilvie paid for his third, but he can more than make up the different playing a round of golf with "Rerap" duffer Mark Pearson.