Meet The UPS Store Retail Owner, Bryan Vial

Entrepreneurship is part of The UPS Store local retail owner Bryan Vial's DNA. A Phoenix native who grew up blocks away from his first The UPS Store, Bryan received his business degree at the University of Denver, where he also met his wife. He put his degree and drive to good use, leaving Colorado behind and returning to Phoenix to work with his family's wholesale beauty supply business. When his family sold the company, Bryan saw it as an opportunity to strike out on his own. He purchased a wine shop in La Jolla, Calif. turning it into an upscale destination for not just wine but cheeses, single malt scotches, tequila, and more.

For those that remember 9/11, it's easy to understand how the economic storm that followed it impacted small businesses across the country. It was a storm that Bryan's wine shop couldn't weather and, like so many, he was forced to sell. "I had to do some soul-searching," he says, describing how he decided to navigate his life after 9/11. "I asked myself 'what do I really like to do the most?' I loved working alongside the shipping and receiving team at the beauty supply business and thought, 'I've got to go back into business on my own.' That's the environment where I thrive," he says.

Bryan's soul-searching and determination have paid off in spades. He's the proud owner of three The UPS Store locations and loves the growth he sees every day, on many levels. "It initially felt good to see the business grow," he says. "But now it's more about watching all of my employees blossom. Some of them are still with me. Others have gone from high-school-aged staff to engineers with big firms," he says with pride. Bryan truly cares about his staff. "You've got to take care of your employees."

Bryan's team treats their customers with the same care. No job is too complicated. "I remember shipping an ice cream cake. It was deep-frozen and the customer wanted it sent overnight," he recalls. "We built a special box for it so that it was suspended inside and kept dry ice inside to keep it cold. We had it in the freezer until the truck just left the store!"

Bryan's ability to also care about the world outside of his stores stretches far and wide. He's traveled as far as Ethiopia to participate in a Mercy Mission, serving families that didn't have any access to health care. "They didn't have access to running water," Bryan says, reminiscing. "We went out there and tried to help them out with access to medicine." Bryan calls it "an eye-opening experience that helped me realize how well we have it and opened the door to seeing how to further help the community around me."