Alex Harb came to the United States from Lebanon nearly 11 years ago hoping to get a college degree and eventually land a job.

Beyond that, however, Harb had more questions than answers about how he would accomplish those goals.

His situation was compounded by the fact that he knew little English. He was raised speaking French as a second language.

But Harb — as he often does — persevered.

He came to Wichita in August 2000 and enrolled at Wichita State University . He also considered schools in North Carolina, but chose Wichita because WSU accepted him first.

Harb paid his way through college by busing and waiting tables, and selling pocket knives on ebay, learning English along the way.

Overcoming obstacles, he says, was nothing new in his life because he grew up amid turmoil in his native Lebanon.

“It gives you the survivor mentality,” says Harb, 30.

Four years after coming to Wichita, Harb had accomplished one of his goals and set out to accomplish the other.

With a computer science degree in hand, Harb started Ribbit Computers in December 2004, and the company has grown steadily since.

Ribbit now has 55 employees across five retail and computer repair stores in Wichita. The company also includes a business solutions division, which launched earlier this year.

Harb says he started his own company after first looking to buy a technology business in Wichita. That plan changed since nothing was for sale.

“The reward is I have something to do where every day is different,” Harb says.

Customer oriented

When he started Ribbit, Harb had a basic understanding of what it takes to make a business successful.

He started working at his dad’s wholesale grocery business in Lebanon as a teenager.

There, Harb, who has five sisters and one brother, learned the value of hard work and how not to succumb to obstacles.

Keeping his goal in mind helps him get through difficult situations.

He says he honed his customer-service skills while working as a waiter at Red Rock Canyon Grill in Bradley Fair.

“The more you take care of the customer, the more reward you are going to get out of it,” Harb says.

Transferring those lessons to the computer business has helped Harb be successful with Ribbit, say those who know him.

“He was really good at customer service and I think he took that with him to Ribbit Computers,” says John Arnold, who owns Red Rock Canyon. “He’s really passionate about that.”

Arnold says Harb wasn’t afraid to work hard to accomplish his goals, and he often came to work early and stayed late.

Keith Stevens, senior vice president of Southwest National Bank , who has served as a financial advisor to Harb, says he has a solid grasp of how to make a business successful.

Stevens says Harb understands how to strategically grow a business.

“I just admire his business acumen,” Stevens says. “His expansion has been well thought out.”

Harb started Ribbit Computers after working as an intern at LSI Corp. in Wichita.

When he’s not working, Harb enjoys pheasant hunting and playing soccer.

“I enjoy what I’m doing,” Harb says.

Fueled by the success of its retail stores, Ribbit ComputersbizWatch is launching a new division to serve the information technology needs of businesses.

Ribbit Business Solutions will operate out of the company’s retail site at 438 S. Rock and will offer managed computer services, security camera installation and on-site computer repair.

Owner Alex Harb has hired 12 employees for the new division, including eight technicians, and will add two more.

Harb plans to have 20 technicians on staff by summer. Ribbit Computers has 72 employees.

Launching Ribbit Business Solutions is the next phase of Harb’s strategic expansion plan that, until now, has centered on expanding the company’s retail presence in Wichita. Ribbit opened its fifth retail site last year.

“We’ve got our system established in town,” Harb says. “Being present all over town helps us get to the customer quicker.”

He says, the company’s focus in 2011 will be on growing its business solutions division.

“This is pretty much our project right now,” Harb says. “We’re trying to be businesses’ IT department.”

Harb remodeled 2,500 square feet at his South Rock store for the new division. Mitesh Construction, a Hays-based company with an office in Wichita, was the general contractor.

He also is planning to add 2,500 square feet in an adjacent suite that most recently housed a dentist office. Harb hopes to have that work finished in two or three months.

Harb plans to launch a similar retail and business solutions model later this year in Salina. The business solutions division, Harb says, mostly will operate out of Ribbit’s Wichita office.

Harb also is considering opening stores in Garden City and Dodge City.

“The opportunity is there,” Harb says. “We’ve established a lot of relationships through our retail stores.”

Those relationships, Harb says, have helped Ribbit Business Solutions solidify a client base of 120 businesses in various industries including health care, legal, accounting, manufacturing and banking.

“Business is booming,” Harb says.

He estimates that the business has spent $350,000 to launch its new division. Southwest National BankbizWatch is financing the project.
Developing business

Ribbit launched its business solutions division in January, but waited to discuss it publicly to give the new employees a chance to get settled in.

Harb says the company has grown enough to focus on growing its business solutions client base.

He hired JoAnn Cooper, who most recently worked for Great Plains CommunicationsbizWatch , as his business development manager.

Cooper says the new division will help Ribbit expand its services.

“It is something that evolved because of the retail stores,” Cooper says. “We want to develop this whole side of the business.”

Harb says he formed the new division because many of his retail customers started asking for managed services.

Ribbit’s new division adds another IT managed-services option to the Wichita market.

Those in the industry say offering managed services provides a business-solutions option for companies that don’t have in-house IT departments.

“I think it provides small- and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to get some technical support that they wouldn’t otherwise get,” says Wayne Chambers, president and CEO of High Touch Inc., which also offers managed services. “I think in Wichita there is a need.”

Chambers says Ribbit can benefit from a strong retail presence in the Wichita market that others don’t have.

“Competition is good in a lot of ways,” Chambers says. “It makes you pretty sharp.”

* Ribbit Computers owner Alex Harb in front of what wil be his newest story at 2616 Maize Rd. near 5 guys Burgers and fries.

Ribbit Computers owner Alex Harb in front of what wil be his newest story at 2616 Maize Rd. near 5 guys Burgers and fries.

Ribbit Computers is coming to north of 21st and Maize Road, as owner Alex Harb’s plan to saturate Wichita with his computer sales and service stores nears completion.

But it’s not the end of Ribbit’s growth, Harb said, as he puts the finishing touches on a plan to bring his stores to smaller Kansas communities.

Ribbit will become the final piece in an 8,960-square-foot retail center at 26th North and Maize Road, home to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Cinnamon’s Deli and the first Long John Silver’s on an end-cap of a retail center, developers said. Construction has not begun yet.

“I’ve been looking for a while around that area,” Harb said. “I’d talked to several landlords and almost made a couple of deals, but I wasn’t convinced 100 percent. I didn’t have that ‘feeling’ about the locations I was looking at.”

After a month’s vacation, Harb spotted the Five Guys center.

“It just hit me right then,” he said. “I choose my locations by following my feelings. If I have that ‘feeling’ then I know it will go well.”

The 2,500-square-foot Ribbit will have nine employees — 6 PC technicians and three Apple technicians, the latter a growing segment of Ribbit’s business.

“Apple has been rapidly improving its product,” Harb said. “Used to be the cheapest computer they made was $1,500 to $1,600, but today you can get an entry-level Apple laptop for $800.”

Landlord Central Park Place was represented in the lease deal by Brad Saville, president of Landmark Commercial Real Estate, and Christian Ablah of Classic Real Estate.

Ribbit was represented by Bradley Tidemann of J.P. Weigand & Sons.

Saville said the strip mall, which opened on Feb. 15, has been a success thus far, with restaurants ahead of projections.

The new store leaves Harb one short of his goal to saturate Wichita.

“I’m thinking that we’ll look at the 47th and Broadway area, but before there we’re going to start our Hutchinson project,” he said.

Harb has targeted several Kansas cities at or near 20,000 population, including Hutchinson, Salina, Garden City and Dodge City.

“We want to get in all of them because we’ll be able to provide them something they’re missing,” he said. “None of the bigger stores want to go there, but we will. We don’t want to be Super Walmart. We just want to have our stores.”

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/03/25/1240342/ribbit-plans-stores-outside-wichita.html#ixzz0jabpsnmh

Ribbit Computer owner negotiating lease for fifth Wichita store location

Alex Harb is negotiating with two west Wichita leasing agents to open his fifth Ribbit Computer store.

“I prefer one site over the other,” Harb says.

He has signed a letter of intent with The Shops at Chadsworth, 2556 N. Maize Road, to take possession of a 1,625-square-foot space, says leasing agent Curt Robertson of Insite Real Estate Group.

The Shops of Chadsworth feature a Baskin Robbins ice cream store and a Cox Communications retail store. Robertson confirmed Ribbit Computers is one of two companies that has a letter of intent for the space. And he says another company is interested in the same site.

Ribbit to open new store on Rock Road

Ribbit Computers is moving its oldest Wichita location to Kellogg and Rock Road.

The 4-year-old computer company has outgrown its first store at Lincoln and Woodlawn and will open a 5,000-square-foot location at 438 S. Rock Road in the second half of May, owner Alex Harb said.

The move is part of Harb’s philosophy: Bring express computer service, sales and installation to demand centers in the greater Wichita area. Harb thinks the Kellogg and Rock store could add as much as $3 million in annual sales to Ribbit’s bottom line.

“We need a store that can handle traffic from Andover, Augusta and Derby, the south and east Wichita suburbs,” Harb said.

“Woodlawn is a little bit too close to our downtown location. We’ll go from 2,000 square feet down there to a 4,000-square-foot showroom at Kellogg and Rock.”

The relocated store will include the staples of Harb’s business model: Dell and Macintosh computers, Verizon Wireless mobile phones and Internet products and a full-service, one-day computer repair department.

He expects to add about seven employees to the 37 that staff Ribbit’s Wichita locations, including the company headquarters at Douglas and Washington, Maple and West Street and K-96 and Rock Road.

Ribbit also includes a business computing service division, IT Group, formed in 2007.

A Conversation With Alex Harb

Alex Harb grins and leans forward in his chair, buried in the back room of the Ribbit Computers headquarters at Douglas and Washington.

There’s no economic hand-wringing allowed in Harb’s four-store computer supply and repair chain in Wichita, just debate about what will drive the company’s next two stores that are coming soon to 21st and Maize Road and 71st South and Rock Road in Derby.

Harb, who founded Ribbit in 2005, doesn’t harbor any worry about expanding too fast in a slowing economy.

“We’re always going after it,” he said, chuckling. “My theory is that it doesn’t matter what happens, because it could always be a lot worse.

“America is still the number one opportunity place in the world, and you’re not scared to take risks here. Scared money doesn’t make money.”

Talk about the business model that’s driving your expansion.

“Usually, a business owner has more knowledge about the business than anyone else. As a business owner, I can work like four employees. I can do several things in the business and still manage the business.

“The key is being present 24-7 and being able to save money and labor by doing stuff yourself.

“That way, you know that it’s being done your way and efficiently because of your experience. You have the know-how about everything, so do things yourself and eliminate the margin of error, eliminate labor costs.

“I’m not one of those people who’s going to become an absentee owner.”

What is your niche in the Wichita computer market?

“What allows us to continue and grow in business in this market is our service in the local market.

“Local businesses save a lot of money dealing with us because we’re a lot cheaper than the brand-name computer stores, plus we provide faster service.

“When the economy’s not doing great, like now, local businesses save more money through us than through bigger companies or nationwide companies.”

Is your business suffering as the economy slows?

“It’s still doing well. We’re still increasing our business every month because we’re focused on what we need to do.

“We focus on eliminating unnecessary expenses and focus on the expenses that directly help our business.

“And customer service.”

Talk about your philosophy of customer service.

“We’re constantly talking to our staff to find out what the customer needs.

“If we find ourselves stuck with something our customers aren’t interested in, we right away eliminate it.

“It comes down to this: If you have the product in and a customer ready to buy, you’ll sell it. If you don’t have the product they want, you’ve lost their business.”

What’s the fastest-growing segment of your business?

“We’re constantly improving our business customer base. And this downtown location helps us quite a bit getting exposure to businesses.

“We’re doing more of the business project, more camera systems, IT projects, point of sale software for restaurants, liquor stores and gas stations.

“It’s grown into a pretty solid business customer base helping us continue to build our margins.”

You’ve also diversified the product line, into Mac computers and now Alltel wireless equipment and services. Why?

“Our local market has its own special qualities with the customer base and products.

“With Alltel, we’ve had a bunch of customers request the air card to go with their laptops.

” (Air cards) are absolutely a serious competitor to Cox and AT&T. I’d estimate that 80 percent of customers within five years will be using air cards.”

Why 21st and Maize, and Derby?

“When you have 50 or 60 different businesses going to the Derby Marketplace at 71st and Rock, you’ve got all those businesses needing IT services.

“And you’ve got business owners and employees needing help with computers and houses. Derby will do very well with that.

“At 21st, it’s the same principle. There are lots of businesses and lots of homes going up.

“Plus, it’s quite a bit of distance from our Maple and West store to 21st and Maize, so I’m confident we’ll be able to serve more customers.”

Any parting advice for fellow entrepreneurs?

“Watch your numbers.”

Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290 or bwilson@wichitaeagle.com.

Good Advice: How do you manage conflict in the workplace?

Alex Harb, Owner, Ribbit Computers

“The best way of dealing with conflict is to try to relate everything you do and every policy you put together for the benefit of the business rather than the benefit of yourself or certain individuals, as well making it clear to everyone how it benefits the workplace and therefore benefits them. Don’t want to waste time trying to change people’s bad habits but rather convince people how important it is to leave personal problems outside the door and follow company policies and procedures, by providing examples and showing proven results.

Whenever a conflict arises between co-workers, you should solve that by relating to the company policies without making exceptions.”

Ribbit Computers comes downtown

Alex Harb’s 3-year-old computer company is growing again. Ribbit Computers is moving into business computing, opening a store in about three weeks at 921 E. Douglas to serve downtown businesses.

The downtown store, the company’s fourth, will offer name-brand and custom-built computer systems, software and repair for consumers and small and medium business. Harb also has added Macintosh desktop and laptop sales and repair.

Much of that business work will be funneled through a year-old Ribbit division, the IT Group.

“We’re downtown because we want to serve more businesses downtown,” Harb said.

“Wichita is a great, great place to do business. People are very friendly and supportive to local businesses.”

The 6,000-square-foot building will have about 2,000 square feet for sales and repair and about 4,000 square feet of warehouse space.

It will employ about 15 people, driving Ribbit’s total payroll to about 55, and will house Harb’s office.

Everything from point-of-sale management software such as Restaurant Manager to quick-repair turnarounds will be available, Harb said.

“Business people’s time is valuable,” he said. “They don’t have time to wait, so we shoot for a day’s turnaround on all repairs.”

But custom-built systems –Ribbit’s built about 250,000 computers since opening in 2005 — and the latest in name-brand PC and Mac equipment will be for sale.

Richard Haddock, president of Wichita-based Haddock Corp., said the Mac market remains good.

“We’ve been here for 30 years, and any competition is good,” he said.

Harb is undaunted by the recent national economic downturn, saying he’s confident that Ribbit systems will save business clients money.

And a Wichita State marketing professor said his timing may be right.

“I’m not convinced Wichita’s in an economic downturn,” said WSU professor Cindy Claycomb.

“But, downturns can be a good time to jump ahead. If his strategy and planning are on target… downturns don’t mean that people and companies aren’t going to start buying. IT makes a business more efficient.”

Harb, 27, founded Ribbit in 2004. Sales in 2007 were estimated at $7 million.

Other stores are located at K-96 and Rock Road, Maple and West Street and Lincoln and Woodlawn. Plans are in the works for a fifth store at 21st and Maize Road, Harb said.

The company also operates a build-to-suit computer warehouse at 810 N. Main.

CompUSA to close or sell all stores

Alex Harb thinks he could gain more business because of CompUSA’s plans to sell or close all 103 of its retail stores in the U.S. Harb, owner of Ribbit Computers, said Monday he could gain more retail customers if the CompUSA store at 3665 N. Rock Road closes, especially since Ribbit’s newest store is just a few hundred feet away.

“It’s a good thing for the Wichita market because it’s going to help local businesses like ours grow more.”

Late Friday, Dallas-based CompUSA said that it had been acquired by an affiliate of Gordon Bros. Group, a Boston-based restructuring and investment firm.

The Gordon unit plans to “initiate an orderly wind-down of CompUSA’s retail store operations,” the companies said in a news release.

Gordon plans to keep all of the CompUSA stores operating through the holidays, offering “attractive bargains” on the products it sells.

Some stores — those in “key markets” — could be sold, in addition to two other CompUSA operations: its technical service business called CompUSA TechPro and its Internet sales operation.

Stores that it can’t sell will be closed.

The privately held companies did not say which stores would be sold or closed.

Earlier this year, CompUSA said it would close 126 stores, including one in Overland Park. That left the retailer’s Wichita store as its sole Kansas location.

CompUSA was founded in 1984 as Soft Warehouse, a Dallas-based software retailer.

In 1999, it was purchased by Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helo’s Grupo Carso SA. CompUSA has struggled financially in recent years and in February received a $440 million cash infusion and announced a new strategy to turn around its slumping computer and electronics sales.

The strategy was to focus largely on tech enthusiasts, educated professionals and small and medium-size businesses.

In Wichita, it’s unclear what the full affect will be of Gordon Bros.’ plans.

Mindscapes Academy, 10234 W. 13th St., said last month that it had reached agreement to display and sell CompUSA products, as well as offer training and support for CompUSA customers.

Messages left for Mindscapes officials on Monday were not returned.