Revzilla adds larger building at Navy Yard

Revzilla, the Web site for motorcycle gear, is preparing to add a second, larger building at the former Navy Yard business center in South Philadelphia.

The company's showroom, office and warehouse operations now occupy a 51,000 sq. ft. building south of the east end of the Platt Bridge over the Schuylkill. Revzilla has arranged to start expanding into the nearby 104,000 sq ft warehouse occupied by Destination Maternity before Destination ran away to South Jersey last year. Revzilla also plans to boost employment to 160 this year, from the current 100.

The space will hold some of the 100,000+ motorcycle-related items Revzilla keeps in inventory. It will increase Revzilla's profile alongside Navy Yard employers Urban Outfitters Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Iroko Pharmaceuticals, Flowers Foods' Tasty Baking Co., and other companies, alongside Navy engineering offices and drydocks that remained here after the shipyard closed in the 1990s.

Anthony Bucci founded the company with fellow WebLinc veterans Matt Kull and Nick Auger, back in 2007, in a Center City garage near their crowded apartment, on the eve of the howling recession, which turned out to be as good a time as any to boostrap a company. Revzilla retails physical products, to committed fans (bikers), without needing a lot of venture capital. Local company-backers Steve Goodman Esq. of Morgan Lewis, Dave Bookstpan of Monetate and DreamIt Ventures, Dave Schlesinger of Five Below, and Dan Erlbaum of David's Bridal have been generous advisers, Bucci says.

"Philly's a sandbox" for online sales companies, Bucci added. citing Michael Rubin's Kynetic and eBay's (ex-GSI Commerce) locally-based unit that competes with Amazon, and others. "Our philosophy is, move fast and break things. If it's negative, turn it off." He added, "We are scaling up."