Firefighter and paramedic Sean Lawson founded The Public Safety Store to provide essential equipment for police, firefights, EMS and other first responders. / Photo by Ryan Morris
Sean Lawson knows a lot about managing risk and navigating perilous situations.
He started as a volunteer firefighter in 2002 and has been a member of the Lexington Fire Department for the past five years. He’s also a paramedic who has worked in emergency medical services.
Lawson’s Lexington-based business venture, The Public Safety Store, meant taking a risk of another kind. The store specializes in offering safety equipment, accessories and clothing for his fellow emergency services personnel. Necessary items that, much of the time, emergency workers buy for themselves.
Lawson hails from the Betsy Layne area of Floyd County. He moved to Lexington in 2002 to attend Sullivan University, where he graduated with a degree in information technology. He grew bored of office work, however, and looked to his volunteer firefighting experience for inspiration.
A local equipment supplier for emergency services personnel held monthly warehouse sales, which Lawson attended to buy himself some gear. When that month’s credit card statement arrived, however, Lawson realized he’d overspent, so he resold some of the merchandise online to rescue himself from a financial emergency. The plan worked and, at the next sale, Lawson bought and later sold more items, tracking his profits on a spreadsheet.
“I found I was really making some good money at that,” he said.
He made several thousand dollars this way over the next summer and, by 2004, was selling equipment online regularly. In 2009 he was working for an EMS unit, covering 24-hour shifts two days a week, and found himself with plenty of spare time.
The Public Safety Story stocks helmets, gloves, boots, uniforms, eyewear, gear bags, tools, lights, sirens and other equipment. / Photo by Ryan Morris
He launched The Public Safety Store, selling merchandise at area firefighting training schools. He also created a retail website and ran the business from his home. His offerings included gear bags, gloves, boots, uniforms, eyewear, helmets, tools, lights, sirens and other equipment for vehicles, serving the firefighting, EMS and police sectors.
“Our business just continued to grow…and grow…and grow,” he said.
In late 2012, when Lawson’s living room was being overtaken by embroidery machines and merchandise, and with his phone ringing day and night with questions and orders, he realized the store needed its own space—and so did his family. Though his wife sometimes helped, she had other obligations, as well. Lawson also realized it was time to hire employees.
Lawson soon hired two full-time employees after opening the store’s first brick-and-mortar location on Nandino Boulevard. The business grew and, about three years ago, The Public Safety Store moved into a larger, roughly 4,000-square-foot location at 2009 Family Circle. The store currently employs five full-time and one part-time employees, and Lawson anticipates the need to hire six additional part-time salespeople in the next year.
Brett Preston, a fellow Floyd County native and former firefighter with a dozen year’s experience, began as warehouse manager at The Public Safety Store and transitioned to sales manager more than two years ago. He and Lawson have been friends since high school.
“I enjoy getting out and seeing different departments,” Preston says of his role. “I enjoy the people that we have in the office. I enjoy helping those who help others, from police, to firefighters and EMS—our first responders are very important to me. I’m in that brotherhood, and I know what they need and expect [from the gear they use].”
Lawson said starting a new business can be challenging, but he credits his success thus far to assembling a talented, dedicated team that knows the products well, provides a personal level of service and keeps its promises.
“If I wouldn’t use it, then I would never sell it to someone else." —Sean Lawson
Lawson works with nearly 200 product vendors and only selects items he’d use himself in the types of life-or-death situations his clientele also face.
“If I wouldn’t use it, then I would never sell it to someone else,” he said.
In the past year, Lawson added hoses, nozzles and self-contained breathing apparatuses to his offerings. His core business is in Kentucky, but he also has clients across the United States and in Europe, Australia and Canada.
“If we stick true to our roots and we stay true to our customers, I see no limit,” he said.