Charlotte area business owner lands on Forbes “30 Under 30”
BELMONT, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A Charlotte-area business owner was recently named to Forbes’ list of “30 Under 30” for 2024.
Anthony Zappitelli, owner of Zapps Wholesale, was among those honored on the list covering the retail and e-commerce sectors. The company, which takes in overstocked and returned items from a variety of retailers, resells those items. Forbes said the company is on track to make $50 million this year.
The company itself started seven years ago.
“It grew out of my college dorm,” said Zappitelli. “It quickly grew into me dropping out of college, moving to Charlotte and finding an opportunity there.”
Zappitelli initially started selling some items past their “best by” date at a local flea market, but quickly diversified. Zapps Wholesale has a massive warehouse in Shelby and another in Ohio, but said they can adjust what they need based on the supply of items coming in. Queen City News got a tour of one of the warehouses in Belmont, which had products from various retailers that ranged from portable basketball hoops to air fryers.
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With the rise in online retail, the pandemic, and the rise in returns, business has boomed for Zapps Wholesale. Zappitelli said the pandemic alone led to a 300% rise in business, largely due to retailers needing to clear their own stock and warehouses.
“It’s a lot of product, and they need a lot of help getting the product out of landfills and in to people’s hands,” he said.
Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for 2024 runs the gamut of industries. The publication lists 30 people under the age of 30 for individual sectors, from media, technology, art, sports, science, music and other facets of society. Other recipients for 2024 include actor Noah Schnapp and Kendall Jenner.
“I had a couple of people in the organization nominate me. I wrote up a summary of what we do here, and it caught somebody’s attention,” said Zappitelli.
Zappitelli, 29, said the power in his success so far has been saying ‘yes’ to retailers needing to free their own warehouses, though more independent resellers can buy the items—usually wrapped and on crates—from them, too. One such event for independent resellers will be happening later this month.
“We care about our customers, and we want them to grow. We want them to have 100 retail stores,” Zappitelli said.
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