Federal Wayans have a new choice for their battery and lighting needs as a father and son opened up their seventh Batteries Plus Bulbs store recently in the city.

Dan Phillips, co-owner of Batteries Plus Bulbs, was a serial entrepreneur for much of his life. He worked in banking and construction early on and eventually tried to start his own construction business.

Eventually he opened a salmon hatchery that became successful. In the late 1990s, he sold that business. After staying unemployed for a year, he was enticed by a friend to open Batteries Plus Bulbs through a newspaper article.

Initially his son Matt Phillips did not plan to go into business with him. He got into real estate in Phoenix after graduating college with a degree in business administration and a concentration in entrepreneurship.

Eventually he moved back into the area and began taking odd jobs. Finally his father convinced him to become a co-owner.

“After college I was only 23 years old and I really didn’t want to be involved in this,” Matt Phillips said. “I’m really happy that I came here now. We’re really solving a need.”

He said that there are challenges to owning a business with his father. Sometimes maintaining their professional relationship is tough.

“When we disagree with business matters, it can devolve into people having their feelings hurt,” Matt Phillips said. “It was challenging when I had to take the reigns of the business and my father had to hand them over. It can be hard for someone to let go after a decade.”

Even with the challenges, he said his personal relationship with his father has grown through the business. Things such as knowing what the rest of the family is doing have become easier for them.

“There’s a level of candor that you can achieve with family that you can’t get in the professional world,” Matt Phillips said. “In a lot of ways, it makes it easier to communicate.”

Batteries Plus Bulbs has now become the fastest growing franchise of its kind and is recognized by many business publications as one of the top overall business concepts.

“A lot of people don’t understand the variety and level of service we provide,” Matt Phillips said. “A lot of customers come in with very specific problems. They don’t really know exactly what the problem is. Is the battery old? Is the charger working? Sometimes customers go out and buy things they don’t need. We try to eliminate that with the best service.”

The franchise has found a niche that is underserved in many areas. They offer over 50,000 battery types — many for old and obscure products.

One of the services they provide batteries is free-of-charge battery testing. Camera, phone, laptop, car, motorcycle and other batteries are all tested at the store. They also install vehicle batteries.

Store employees also recommend the proper bulbs to fit lighting needs. This can include finding the right color temperature and brightness options.

“Bulbs that aren’t energy efficient are going away,” Dan Phillips said. “Everyone is switching to LED lights and finding replacements for those old bulbs can be confusing for some customers. Our one-on-one service really helps them get the right bulbs.”

Another service the business provides is battery and cracked screen repair for mobile devices such as iPads and iPhones.

The father and son chose to set up shop in Federal Way because Batteries Plus Bulbs already had a sizable market share in the area. They found that many Federal Way residents were going out of their way to Tukwila and Tacoma for batteries.

“We want to eliminate that drive,” Matt Phillips said. “We know we had customers going out of their way to shop at our stores. Anytime they come this far to get to us, that’s uncharacteristic of people. The customers of Federal Way will really benefit by having one of our stores.”

Batteries Plus Bulbs is located at 31820 Pacific Highway S.