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Press
3/1/2002
Five to Watch: achoo! ALLERGY & Air Products
Catalyst Magazine
By Paige Bowers
 Ever look at a company over the past couple of years and fall madly in love with its laid-back dress code, gleaming logo, flashy web site, oodles of funding and sexy technology? Ever think you could take yourself off the market and spend the rest of your life with this hot little number? Of course you have. We’ve done it. Even kicked ourselves about it, especially when that minx broke our heart by going under before our ode to her magnificence hit newsstands. Once bitten, we’re twice shy, but we’re willing to take a chance on these 5 rock-solid companies packed with inner beauty, practicality, even a do-gooder element. We’ll be making eyes at them in 2002 and hope we get the chance to take 'em home to momma.
#4 achoo! ALLERGY & Air Products, Inc.
 Cade McDonald learned that just building an online business didn't guarantee customers would bang down your e-door, buy up all your products and make you an instant millionaire. That’s why he left his job as director of business development for online travel agency eGulliver (before it ran out of cash in April 2001) and went off in search of a solid gig with a brick-and-mortar.
A lifelong allergy sufferer, McDonald says he saw in opportunity in doing the exact opposite of what West Coast online allergy product vendor gazoontite.com did (that would be putting the online cart before the brick-and-mortar horse). He decided to open a store that sold nothing but pillow and mattress encasings, air purifiers, and anything else an Atlantan would need to keep his home achoo-free.
 The result: Armed with a loan from family and friends, McDonald incorporated achoo! ALLERGY & Air Products on Valentine’s Day last year, then opened a Buckhead store in June. Two months later, it became cash flow positive – meaning he won’t be pouring any more money into the company – without having to advertise. McDonald says his current clientele consists of walk-by traffic and patients referred to him by area allergists. Even so, he says he’s got immediate expansion plans and is launching an e-commerce site this month.
“We’re not doing anything fancy here,” McDonald says. “Our door isn’t getting banged down, but it doesn’t have to be. We’ve got a really tight, efficient model and we’re marketing to a captive audience, which is essentially the local allergist community. The rest is just about listening to people and learning from them.”
The Principal: P. Cade McDonald, founder and CEO
Founded: 2001
Location: Buckhead
Employees: 8
The Pitch: Buckhead-based vendor offers allergy and air products for metro area allergy sufferers
Website: www.achooallergy.com
Email: info@achooallergy.com
Why we chose them: You’ve lived here during Spring, right?
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