Doctors Express Thriving on Main Street

When Tom Kelly studied where to open Doctors Express, he looked at 30 Connecticut towns and cities, he didn't pick Danbury's Main Street by accident. He spent a year studying markets and the urgent care medical business.

He looked at each city's demographics, he looked at available health care, he looked for any other urgent care providers nearby, and he looked at traffic. He picked Danbury and plans to expand farther in Danbury in the future.

"You want to find good, high traffic volumes," said Kelly, a former marketing vice president of Smith & Wesson and also Stanley Tools, where he worked in marketing and sales. Once he had his fill of corporate life, and as his children got older, Kelly started looking for a job that would give him time with his family.

"With four kids, we were constantly in urgent care centers," Kelly recalled. "I remember thinking, maybe there's something in this."

He said Doctors Express, a national franchise, has 75 medical urgent care centers up and running, and another 60 in development. The franchise is owned by American Family Care based in Birmingham, AL. Doctors Express gives people a chance to see a doctor or other medical professional when they can't get in to see their own doctor immediately. Kelly said he spent more than $1 million on the franchise, gutting and rebuilding 2 Main St., and hiring his staff of physicians and medical personnel.

Kelly said his goal is to have customers in and out in under an hour. He said, obviously, that can't always happen. He said one morning 12 patients showed up at once. "I was offering them water, coffee, dance lessons, anything to keep them occupied," Kelly said. 

Kelly knows all about the criticisms that have been leveled against Danbury's Main Street, including too many drunk people, a lack of parking, a lack of vibrant businesses and too few people. Kelly disagreed, and said if people don't see growth in downtown Danbury, they have their eyes closed. He mentioned Price Rite, which opened this year, the demolition work and construction work Dunkin Donut Franchise Owner Ed Battista is doing next door to Doctors Express, and work Battista already completed on Main Street near Patch Street. Doctors Express alone hired more than 20 people.

"We created 26 jobs in downtown Danbury," Kelly said. He also hired local contractors to do the renovation work, including United Alarm and Mars Electric. Doctors Express opened in March. "We're investing downtown. These are jobs that didn't exist downtown six months ago."