RJ Mobility marries ‘clever’ products with white-glove service

WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. – RJ Mobility Alliance of Massachusetts has a unique product portfolio and a unique business model that the company hopes it can expand northward. 

The two-year-old company, which accepts only cash and credit, is making a name for itself by selling rollators and scooters from brands like Rollz, Comodita, AGM, U-Step and Tzora online, and delivering, setting up and even customizing them for area residents. 

Here’s what John Mirel, owner and CEO of RJ Mobility, had to say about why, even though it’s perceived as a simple category, standard mobility products should be well thought out and carefully chosen. 

HME News: How’d you get into the mobility business? 

John Mirel: I’m a mechanical engineer and my wife, Debbie, is a CAD operator, and we had a friend with diabetes who became immobile. He was living by himself and became more and more dependent on people. It was a depressing scenario and so we started working on a device for him. We bought a junk power chair and adapted a lift to it, and it gave him back his mobility and dignity. It added years to his life. That’s how we first got interested.  

HME: How did you go about building your product portfolio? 

Mirel: We came up with a business plan describing our mission and function and purpose, and we came up with our own parameters of what a product needed to be and what it needed to do, and we started researching what was out there. There was probably a time when we were looking at 30 or 40 different manufacturers. With our background, we found there were so many clever engineers out there. We started to assemble samples and prove them to ourselves. 

HME: Why are products like rollators and scooters anything but standard? 

Mirel: As we were looking at rollators, we came across horror stories about people who had fallen and ended up in the ER. Some of these devices are too simplistic. They’re just bent aluminum tubing on plastic wheels. They put the person’s body and neck too far forward. The more we got into it the more we realized some models were hurting people instead of helping people. 

HME: Once you had your portfolio set up, how did you spread the word about your business? 

Mirel: We started to tour senior retirement communities and did seminars on mobility. While the idea was to sell stuff, we also started to get really into the education process that’s required to make the right equipment choice. People don’t know what’s available to them.