More Than Mail and Packages

Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] On this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County podcast, our guest is Kevin Hassell, the owner of Bulldog Express right here at 4042. Really, it is 4042’s post office. It is a mailing center that helps businesses do shipping, packaging, and now a lot of printing. They can print almost all kinds of things, and we talked to him a little bit about all the different types of printing they do, the services they provide, including private mailboxes, the benefits of a private mailbox, his community involvement working with homeless people, and his time in Launch JoCo.

So if you’re interested in any of this and just a great local business, listen in.

Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of [00:01:00] family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Best of Johnston County podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden, and on today’s episode, we have the owner of Bulldog Express right here at 40/42, 40 Veterans Parkway, whatever you wanna call, 40 at Exit 312 now that they changed the name of the road, and Kevin Hassel, and he is here to talk to us a little bit about what they do at Bulldog Express, some of the new services they’re offering, printing, they can print almost anything now, how the business has evolved since he took it over primarily as the operator from his brother about 18 months ago, and some of the new things that they’re bringing to this area that I think you’re gonna be interested in, including 24/7 access to their PO boxes that are in the front of their store, which they’ve not had yet, but they do have the boxes.

[00:02:00] So if you’re interested in mailing, shipping, printing, this is gonna be a very interesting podcast from a up-and-coming small business right here in Johnston County, Bulldog Express. But before we get to that, I’d like to ask you to like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media channels, the Best Johnston County podcast.

Best Johnston County podcast comes every single Monday, and has now for right at three years. We started this podcast in November of 2023, to tell the story of Johnston County, and that is what we have done, and that is what we’re gonna continue to do. So go back and listen to some of the previous episodes.

We had a lot of other great guests from right here, right here at 40/42, just like Bulldog Express, including Just Dog People, Dr. Tim Sims, local dentist. We’ve had United Community Bank, from right here at this intersection, along with many, many businesses from around Johnston County. If you love Johnston County as much as I do, this podcast is for you.

Welcome, Kevin.

Kevin Hassell: Good [00:03:00] morning, Mr. Breeden. How are you, sir?

Jonathan Breeden: I’m doing good. Doing good. And, you know, you’re in Launch JoCo. We’ll probably have to talk about that too, and your experience, ’cause-

Kevin Hassell: Yeah, I got pretty good mentors.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, right. Well, I’m your mentor. I don’t know how good your mentor is, but anyway.

So, tell the, audience your name and what you do.

Kevin Hassell: So my name is Kevin Hassell. I am one of the owners of Bulldog Express, like you said, right here at 40/42. Little bit about me, I am originally from the Outer Banks, from an extremely, extremely, extremely small town. I had 49 people in my high school graduating class.

You take your yearbook and you mark out your cousins, and that’s your date for prom. One of those kind of high schools.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, my goodness. What high school?

Kevin Hassell: So I went to, Columbia High School in Tyrrell County, so right before you get down to Manteo. We’re the last place before you cross over into Dare County and then everything doubles in price.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s true.

Kevin Hassell: So, I mean, we’re the last stop you get before beach prices kick in.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kevin Hassell: So graduated high school in 2003, moved up here. My dad was an engineer with Norfolk Southern Railroad, so he’s based out of Raleigh, so that’s what brought us up this way. Went to NC State for undergrad, [00:04:00] graduated with my bachelor’s in political science. Decided to take a little life detour, like we’ve talked about. It was not a great life decision. Decided at one point I wanted to go be an attorney. That was horrible, horrible, horrible life decision. realized about halfway through that I like myself a lot more than that. So I transitioned into nursing, where I actually get to, you know, like myself and sleep well at night.

Listen, but graduated from nursing school, been a nurse since 2010, and over the years I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of great people. I’ve done emergency nursing, cardiac ICU, cath lab. I was a flight nurse at one point, so I’ve had the opportunity to do quite a bit of traveling, quite a bit of healthcare.

And then this is.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, we’ll get to Bulldog, right.

Kevin Hassell: A couple things changed to bring me more into Bulldog.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right. So, yeah.

And I think when I first met you, you were helping out a little bit at Bulldog there. But it was largely your brother and your [00:05:00] father.

So Bulldog was originally started by a couple from North Raleigh and I know them, what I remember about them is their kids went to Leesville Road High School. And my wife taught at Leesville Road High School. So she taught their children, and they had a bulldog that was in the store every day. And I think the store started in maybe ’05, ’06. Does that sound about right?

Kevin Hassell: So they had, they had it for a little over a decade.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Kevin Hassell: And we purchased it in June of 2017.

Jonathan Breeden: ’17.

Kevin Hassell: So they would’ve had it since 2006 or 2007.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Right. And, and then they retired. And you bought it sort of as a retirement gig for your dad. and I think your brother was largely running it the first seven or eight years

Kevin Hassell: Yes, sir

Jonathan Breeden: y’all had it. Is that right?

Kevin Hassell: Yes, sir.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. and with that, there was no printing.

Kevin Hassell: Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: and there was a couple other things.

Kevin Hassell: Yeah. So when Kent ran a… And it still to this day serves as the de facto post office for the 4042 area.

So [00:06:00] we, I just actually talked to the postmaster last week, and for all their volume of print, of, mailing, we are either number two or number three, only behind the post office itself. So we serve this entire area, kind of providing all the postal services. We are also able to ship via FedEx and UPS and DHL, but we serve as the de facto post office around here.

And that, what that means for everybody who lives here is we have access to different pricing, different structures, different abilities and services that others might not. the biggest one being access to us and our relationships that we have with the Postal Service. So if something You know, I’m not gonna say post office ever loses or misses a package, but if anything like that ever happens, we have different abilities and avenues to represent you and try to resolve the issue a little bit better than you would on your own.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Yeah. [00:07:00] And, you know, for people that don’t know, the 4042, the commercial interchange is a Garner address as is my address here. I’m on Glenn Road behind the Food Lion, you are.

Kevin Hassell: Same.

Jonathan Breeden: Right next to the Food Lion in the Food Lion shopping center.

Kevin Hassell: That’s right.

Jonathan Breeden: And so it’s Garner, North Carolina 27529. But now that is the only part of the Garner postal code that is in Johnston County. Because if you go a mile and a half to 50 and 42, that’s Raleigh, 27613. So where the new Publix, Lowe’s Foods, Wells Fargo Bank, that’s Raleigh, but that’s still Johnston County. And if you go a mile the other way towards Cornwallis Road, that’s Clayton 27520.

And if you turn down on Cleveland School Road and you cross I-40, when you get to Westview, that’s Clayton 27520. So that is an interesting thing for marketing before the internet and Google My Business and stuff for me for a long [00:08:00] time with this primary Garner address.

Kevin Hassell: All over the hill.

Jonathan Breeden: But you really serve, you don’t care, you serve all people as a postal, basically a post office.

Kevin Hassell: Correct. And the other reason, people actually leave from right beside the post office and come up here, number one, the customer service is fantastic. That’s one thing we really pride ourselves on. The other big thing is the in and out time. I mean, you could drive 10 minutes here and be in and out of the store in five minutes versus, you know, a 30-minute wait at the post office and that’s really the big factor is, the customer service of course is one we pride ourselves on, but number two is just the speed of getting you in and out. It’s, the staff here takes pride in what we do, so we are all motivated to make the experience as seamless and efficient for you as possible.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And you have done a really good job of, I walked in with a computer a few weeks [00:09:00] ago. It was like, “I need to ship this computer to Maryland,” and y’all got, y’all, I don’t even think you were there. It was one, it was one of your employees. We got a box out. We got some- Little-

Kevin Hassell: All the-

Jonathan Breeden: Little plastic things

Kevin Hassell: little peanuts

Jonathan Breeden: Peanuts and whatever. And we wrapped it up, and we shipped a computer to Maryland, and it got there without a scratch on it. And I literally just walked in with a computer saying, “I need to mail this.” I didn’t have a box, I didn’t know what to do, and, and y’all helped me out, and it was tremendous.

Kevin Hassell: I appreciate it. Yeah, we, we, we, we try. We do our very best. And, you know, if you treat people like they wanna be treated, if you care about people, and just try to give them the service that they want, that’s all any of us want, and that’s what we try to do.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So, you do a lot with FedEx, do a lot with UPS. what are some of the drop times? I mean, what times FedEx pick up?

Kevin Hassell: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Is it 4:00 PM?

Kevin Hassell: So for FedEx, they’re not allowed to come before 4:30.

Jonathan Breeden: Before 4:30 PM.

Kevin Hassell: Correct. They come in- So

Jonathan Breeden: if I get there before 4:30, it’s going out today.

Kevin Hassell: Absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kevin Hassell: UPS is right around the [00:10:00] 3:30 mark. they have a little bit farther to go back to their hub, that’s why they get there earlier. and post office is, I mean, honestly a shot in the dark. Usually anywhere between 10:30 and 2:00. A lot of it depends on the day of the week, who the carrier is, how much of a workload the rural carrier has between residential deliveries and commercial deliveries. So again, post office, like I said, anywhere 10:30 to 2:00.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kevin Hassell: Varying, but the, the hard stop times are, you know, if you want it to go out the same day with FedEx, be there before 4:30. If you want it to go out the same day with UPS, I would generally say 3:00 PM to be safe.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And your prices are the same as they would get other places, or very similar?

Kevin Hassell: So they’re very similar, but here’s the advantage of being independent, is my pricing structure is based off of volume.

So the more people who keep coming here, the higher my tiers go. The higher my tiers go, the more of a discount I [00:11:00] receive We’ve chosen to structure and price our business to where I feed that discount onto the customers. a lot of places have the ability to receive more of a discount and keep things priced the same.

But for us, the higher the volumes go, the more discount I receive, and we actually pass that along to the customers. honestly, at our store, it is just as cheap, if not cheaper, to send FedEx than it is to send the post office because of our volumes.

Jonathan Breeden: Man, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. I didn’t know that.

So you also offer mailboxes. What are the advantages of those mailboxes? I mean, you’ve got, they stay rented, so I mean, why do people choose to have their mail delivered to you?

Kevin Hassell: So for our PMBs, private mailboxes, for them, you’re able to receive all the mail here. So you can get your packages, you can get your Amazon packages, you can receive your FedEx and UPS packages. At the post office, you’re not allowed to receive those. They actually return those. So if you happen to drop off [00:12:00] or receive a FedEx package that’s accidentally sent to the post office, they just keep it and then return it. So they actually don’t give you that package.

With us, you’re able to receive all the packages. Everything remains secured, as well as you’re able to even call in and say, “Hey, do I have any mails? Anything going on?” We also provide more discounts and services to our customers who already have a mailbox, such as we give discounts on shipping, we do free notaries.

We have a lot of, services, ancillary services that we offer that we’re able to provide discounts to the customers with. And the final biggest advantage that a lot of business owners have is you actually have a physical address. So you can use this as your business entity registration to receive all your stuff from the state here.

That way, you know, you don’t have to be inundated in getting things from the government at your personal residence. We have a physical address, and you’re able to use [00:13:00] that as your communication and physical address for your business entities.

Jonathan Breeden: And that’s big. That’s big. As somebody that has multiple locations as well as a PO box, that physical address is big for marketing, it’s big for shipping, for absolutely sure, that kind of stuff. Now, you are getting ready, those boxes for the 20 years that Bulldog has been there have only been open during business hours. Right. What are your business hours?

Kevin Hassell: So we are-

Jonathan Breeden: They’re getting ready to change. But what are your business hours?

Kevin Hassell: So current business hours, we are 9:00 to 6:00, Monday through Friday, and 9:00 until 2:00 on Saturday. We’re looking at possibly adjusting those some to look at demand. We are quite fortunate to where we have quite a bit of foot traffic.

I mean, on the business side, we have 200, 250 people a day going in the store, which is a lot for a small business. We’re looking at possibly, one, adjusting the hours, like we’ve talked about as through our mentorship with Launch JoCo. We’re looking at maybe [00:14:00] look, adjusting those or trying to more fine-tune some of the hours and services to better meet the needs, and that’s the current, you know, research we’re doing inside here. More information to come on that one, but, you know some adjustments to provide better services are definitely in the works.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. But I know you are in the process right now of installing a wall with a door that would separate the private mailboxes in the front of the business from the rest of the business, which would allow 24/7 access for people to their private mailboxes, which Bulldog has not offered in the 20 years it’s been there. That’s a big change, and that should be ready by November 1st, I believe, right?

Kevin Hassell: That’s the goal, if not a little bit sooner. It’s been a very complicated process, as anybody with business knows. You have to work through a lot of permitting and what’s allowed and the whole insurance gambit, which is really what most of the issues came down to. But being able to provide the 24/7 mailboxes is [00:15:00] something I’ve always wanted to do. I mean, look at it. So if I was working as a nurse, you know, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, I couldn’t even check my own mail at my own store. So I mean, just in full-time nursing practice, I wouldn’t have the ability to check the mail, and because of that, that’s really the driver for what wanted us to look at going 24/7, is I mean, if I couldn’t even check my mail, how did, my customers feel?

So trying to give that higher level of service, but mostly trying to meet the need that exists. We’ve been aware of it, but it’s been a very hard process to meet. But, you know, we’re here to do

it so-

Well, and, and

Jonathan Breeden: people have to understand, and, you know, because I work with you, I understand-

Kevin Hassell: Mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: the security that is required by the post office, by FedEx, by UPS

Kevin Hassell: The insurance

Jonathan Breeden: all the packages and the insurance i- is significant, right? Like- like, like, like there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of products going through that little store every day, a lot [00:16:00] of money in these packages. you know, and I don’t think FedEx comes on Saturday, so John will FedEx on Saturday. He has to make sure that whatever he’s putting in is very secure,

Kevin Hassell: So we, we do get FedEx on Saturday.

We’re not, we don’t get UPS, so that’s the difference there.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, okay. You do get FedEx able to

Kevin Hassell: I didn’t know that … FedEx any day, um, which is also one of the things. Not many places are able to get FedEx out on Saturdays. So that is true for most r- locations. Okay. We’re fortunate enough, like I said, because of the volume, to where we’re able to offer that service where nobody else in the region can.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Have family law questions? Need guidance to navigate legal challenges? The compassionate team at Breeden Law Office is here to help. Visit us at www. breedenfirm. com for practical advice, resources, or to book a consultation. Remember, when life gets messy, you don’t have to face it alone.

Jonathan Breeden: So when did you take over the day-to-day operation of, [00:17:00] of the store versus, I mean, you were a nurse, you were helping some, but it was largely your brother, your dad- mainly your brother. When did you take over the day-to-day operations?

Kevin Hassell: March of last year. March, April. Believe it was March of last year.

Jonathan Breeden: March of ’25.

Kevin Hassell: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kevin Hassell: So that’s when I took over. a few months before that, we had really been thinking about it, working on setting the, the, the stage for coming in. ‘Cause there’s a lot of stuff that went into… It’s, it’s a very big difference, you know, working three 12s as a nurse versus five, six, seven days You know, at the s- at, at the store

Jonathan Breeden: A week in retail, right? That’s a big deal.

Kevin Hassell: That’s, that’s a lot, especially- It’s a lot … you know, when I’m married, I have two kids. I have a 12-year-old girl, special needs nine-year-old boy. I mean, it’s a lot, and especially trying to figure out how to be present for the store for, as a leader, to also take the time to work on the store, not just working in the store.

You know, that’s, it’s not just, as you’re very aware [00:18:00] of, it’s not just the time we’re here in the office. Right. Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of other strings and a lot of other attentions where we’re being forced. Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and, you know, I know the business is growing. You’re doing all kinds of printing now, and that’s something that you sort of brought in when you took over, in March of ’25. What kinds of things are you printing?

Kevin Hassell: Oh, everything.

Jonathan Breeden: What are you not printing? No, I know, but describe for the audience here what you can print there.

Kevin Hassell: Yeah, of course. So right now, we have one more regular printer. I have a production copier. We have a dedicated photo printer. I have a wide format roll printer, a UV, smaller UV printer, which is really cool.

That’s, yeah, we’ll talk about it in a minute. And then we have our big flatbed UV printer. So right now, that’s what we have available. Slowly over time, we’ve always done the standard faxes, and couple color copies, and black and white copies. But the big things we are able to do now is signs, banners, yard signs, [00:19:00] business cards, flyers, coasters.

We can print with the flatbed, the large format flatbed printer, we can print directly on anything that’s flat. And if it’s anything that’s not flat, such as even the lamp here, we can actually have the ability to print on and mount onto all the different substrates. So that’s pretty cool, is we can pretty much direct print on anything flat, and if it’s not flat, we have the ability to print on a different transfer service to then go and apply it to anything that’s not round.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And you can also do canvas prints of family pictures.

Kevin Hassell: And printing on metal, and.

Jonathan Breeden: Print on metal, right. And so not every printing company can do that, and, this is all really, a lot of this printing is really new in the last six months. I mean, one of these machines you’ve only had.

Kevin Hassell: Six weeks.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, yeah. I mean, you got that, one of the machines came in the summer of ’26.

Kevin Hassell: Yes, sir.

Jonathan Breeden: And so, who are some of your clients that you’re [00:20:00] doing printing for? I mean, not name, like what types of businesses are you helping right now?

Kevin Hassell: So we do a lot of stuff for nonprofits and schools, helping teachers.

We have really been able to provide some of the business services, like business cards. People who own a small business who haven’t even thought about having a business card or, you know- Customers who come in who have an idea, but they… When you look at some of the competitors around, you know, or going online, they don’t walk you through it.

They don’t provide the resources you need to make it happen. And that’s the client we’ve actually really enjoyed working with, is some of these small businesses who have an idea like, “Hey, I wanna do junk removal, but I have no idea what to do. These are the ones we really enjoy.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Kevin Hassell: as far as some of the larger clients, definitely realtors have been a niche we found. healthcare providers is another one, ’cause we can go and print a lot of the [00:21:00] forms that you have, and we’re able to go and take the forms and mass produce it at a price you can’t find anywhere else. And also working with a small mom and pop store, you’re able to… I’m, I can directly control pricing. So if somebody comes in and they’re having hard times, I can help you out.

I can help out the customer service. My wife is actually working from home right now with the kids on different designs for banners we’re doing for schools, right, for the back to school. So we’re printing banners that are gonna be around a lot of the football fields.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s great. That’s great. Yeah, that’s awesome. And maybe you might print one of my banners, ’cause I sponsor a lot of high school football teams this year.

Kevin Hassell: You, well, I, I, I am actually printing one of your banners right now.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, cool, cool. So I gotta go see that.

Kevin Hassell: There, there is a banner for you I’m printing right now actually.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, man. Good. I gotta make sure we got the new right logo.

But anyway, well, that, that’s cool. So, so, so the printing, the printing is, is, is probably the fastest growing area of the business.

Kevin Hassell: [00:22:00] Yeah, so printing is the one that I can control the margins with the most. So, just be honest for everybody here. So looking at my year over year compared to last year, we’re actually down about 10 to 15,000 in the pack and ship world.

However, due to printing, it’s carried the 10 to 15 loss, carried that loss plus an additional-

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah,

Kevin Hassell: an additional- … 10, t- t- initial 10 to 20,000.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. That’s awesome.

Kevin Hassell: So print- printing’s carried to 30, which is allowing us to where what would be a 15 loss right now, we’re actually negated all of that in order to meet, you know, and actually see growth.

And ’cause everything

Jonathan Breeden: Right

Kevin Hassell: as you’re aware of as a business owner, everything around here is getting more and more and more difficult. It is harder and harder every day to run a business.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, your labor costs go up, your, your power

Kevin Hassell: Yeah

Jonathan Breeden: bill goes up, all of your, your materials go up. That’s true. But, but the [00:23:00] printing is growing month over month. There’s no doubt about that.

Kevin Hassell: It is, it is absolutely the business …

Jonathan Breeden: and, and the customer service is still there. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s really well. I’ve, I’ve noticed a substantial improvement in the customer service

Kevin Hassell: I appreciate it

Jonathan Breeden: since you took it over

Kevin Hassell: Thank you

Jonathan Breeden: about, you know, back in March of 2025.

So let’s talk a little bit about Launch JoCo. you are a member of that. it is a, small business sort of incubator. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a class that runs for six or eight weeks- I think. it’s communi- it’s done through, Johnston Community College-

the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. and, it helps small businesses that are, that are getting started or need to expand. so why’d you sign up? What have you learned?

Kevin Hassell: So the reason I signed up for Launch JoCo is, you know, I’m fairly well-educated. I’ve spent a lot of time doing business and trying to grow. I wanted to ensure that there was…

I wasn’t missing anything, ’cause I did transition from full-time nursing practice into day-to-day operations of business. I wanted to make sure that [00:24:00] for myself, there wasn’t anything I was, I had forgotten or any gaps that I had. So that’s why I signed up for the class. yes, for some of the classroom portion, it’s been, there’s been a lot of knowledge, a lot of stuff that we’ve gained from that.

But the biggest thing I wanted to gain was actually after the classroom portion, when you get to the mentorship. the class has helped to ensure there’s a lot of foundation stuff done. And honestly, I would recommend Launch for, you know, any small business owner, but especially younger owners. I’m fortunate we’ve owned it for nine years.

A lot of the stuff that we’ve covered in class, stuff we’ve already unfortunately had to figure out and learn- … without having anybody to teach us. and ’cause, and there’s

Jonathan Breeden: That was me. That was me.

Kevin Hassell: But there’s two of us in the class who are experienced owners, and both of us have had the view of, you know, it’s been nice to kind of reinforce some stuff that might not have been directly, you know, taught to us.

I’m not a business major. I [00:25:00] don’t have a business background. but for me, the big part of it came down to the mentorship. I knew coming into class that, you know, this is what was gonna really define it. And, you know, Jonathan and I, we’ve had the, the privilege of working together for years doing things, but it’s really Allowed us to see more about each other, about each other’s business.

You know, hopefully, there’s a lot of ideas when we sit down and do our classes. You n- you give me lots of stuff I hadn’t thought about. Hopefully I’m able to, you know, t- return the favor in kind.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. No, I mean, you’re always- I mean it’s- It’s always good to share ideas- and, move forward. And, you know, we, this is the, I guess, the second year I’ve done Launch JoCo Mentoring.

I’ve done, Launch Garner- several times and I’ve, I’ve really, I’ve really enjoyed it. you know, a lot of people helped me along the way. And, and like I said, I don’t have all the answers, but, but I’ve learned a lot in 26 years of, of building a business. And, and the thing [00:26:00] is, you know, for everybody listening, if you own a business or not, like business is business, right?

Like my business is really no different than Kevin’s business or your business if you’re listening. We all have to deal with the same things. It may be a different product, but it’s all the same things. It’s, it’s labor costs, cost of goods sold, profit margins, advertising, power bills, rent. Like all of that stuff is the same.

How are we gonna get paid? How are we gonna… You know, what are we gonna charge? When are we gonna get paid? You know, how do we collect if we don’t get paid? Like all of these things, all businesses have to deal with. and so literally, you know, my business here at the Breeden Law Office is no different than Bulldog Express or any of your businesses where you work or you may own listening to this.

And, and, and that’s been a great thing about Launch JoCo- and Dana Wooten and everything that they’ve done, with that. I guess, the, we’ll talk about one more thing and then we’ll wrap this up ’cause I’m not Joe Rogan and people aren’t gonna listen to me talk for an hour and a half. But you also do a [00:27:00] little bit with homeless people, you open on the second Sunday of every month.

What is that? What are you doing to help the homeless?

Kevin Hassell: Yeah. So we do, you know, Bullo’s Pressing Gives Back. This kind of we work with, Compassion Connection. Rick Fitzgerald is a pastor. I met him I’m actually a member of the Rotary Club, so I met him in Clayton Rotary, and we had the idea of in the 442 area, there’s a pretty substantial issue, if you open your eyes and you see it, of those who are less fortunate and those who are in need, homeless specifically, and it’s here.

And, you know, for anybody riding around, just open your eyes and look. It’s there. It’s very easy to see when you stop turning a blind eye to it. And with that in mind, we had the idea of, you know, we’re not open on Sundays. We have the mailboxes that we’re able to help allow people who don’t have an address, who can now have a home or somewhere they can get [00:28:00] mail.

You can’t apply for benefits if you don’t have a mailing address. You can’t, you know, we also in the same thing, we don’t charge for resumes. We don’t charge for applications. So anybody comes in and they wants to print a resume for a job interview, I don’t charge for those. You know, I would rather allow somebody to have the benefits or have the opportunity to grow and, you know, for us, that’s printing a sheet of paper is minimal.

For this person, this could be the first job that they’ve had after they became sober. You know, this could be the opportunity they have to actually get ahead, and I don’t want small things such as, you know, being able to afford to make a copy, being able to, you know, have somewhere where they can get their mail.

I don’t want any of that to affect people. So the second Sunday of every month, hopefully gonna be more often as we have more community resources and more churches. You know, who are able, and not just typically [00:29:00] churches, more people in general who would be able to help. The goal is for this to become a weekly or biweekly, you know, event.

Right now, it’s mostly being, you know, some people from a comat- Compassion Connection, some people, you know, at small churches that we attend, and my own family, to open the store and cook, provide meals, provide d- you know, collect and provide donations. You know, we collect different clothing and stuff. My wife, we take it home, we wash it, clean it, fold it, and then we bring it to help give it out. For us it’s important, and also more importantly for my kids. You know, this is something I really like showing and teaching my children, ’cause these are lessons you can’t, you can’t, you can’t get. They have to do it. And for us that’s important because I want my children to see we are fortunate. You know, we have a house.

We, you know, have a strong marriage. We’re, you know, a strong family unit. [00:30:00] Not everybody’s fortunate enough to have this. So take what we have and foster it and grow with it so that we can make more of an impact. And, you know, we’ve been doing it for about four months now. and last weekend we did it and we had three people show up.

And, you know, it’s only three. A lot of people have been telling me just it’s not worth the impact. But for the three people that showed up What was it to them?

Jonathan Breeden: Right. No. Well, and then the word will start to get out, too, you know

Kevin Hassell: That’s the goal

Jonathan Breeden: as you continue to do it and stuff like that. so how can people reach out?

What, what, what is Bulldog’s address? Where is it? How can people reach out to you, learn more about the services you provide?

Kevin Hassell: Sure. So we are also right beside Food Lion, so about 4042, like John said at the beginning, whatever road. Wherever you move to Johnston County will determine what you call this area. for all of us that have been here a while, 4042 Veterans Parkway, 40, all the stuff. but 65 Glen Road, we are two stores down from the Food Lion right [00:31:00] here at 4042. you can get with us… The one thing I recommend is stop by. Like, a lot of what we do, I can’t sit here, I can tell you all business services, and all the mailing, and all the printing, all that.

Stop by, ’cause just when you come by and have a conversation, we get to meet you, you get to meet us. You get to see that, one, we’re authentic, we’re genuine, we’re real people just like you are. Uh, coming by, you’re able to see what we do and what we stand for. You can call the store, 919-329-5700. You can email us, you know, info@shipbulldogsexpress@gmail.com or, you know, bulldogexpress@gmail.com.

There’s many ways, and all the stuff will be below. Right. So, you know.

Jonathan Breeden: What’s your website?

Kevin Hassell: So shipbulldogsexpress.com is the website, but the biggest way is reach us on Facebook. On the website you can do a contact us. You can give us a call. that’s probably the one way I would recommend. and the store phone is [00:32:00] 919-329-5700.

But just send us an email. Do the contact us on the website. You know, see what we have to offer. There’s a lot of resources we do that’s not just business services, shipping, printing. There’s a lot of other things that we can do to help both individuals and small businesses.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. Well, that’s cool.

Kevin Hassell: That, that, that would be my reference. And, and

Jonathan Breeden: Right

Kevin Hassell: thanks for having us. It’s been a real pleasure to learn from you as a mentor, and to see another super strong local business supporting others in the community. This means a lot.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. The la- the last question we ask everyone on this podcast, what do you love most about Johnston County?

Kevin Hassell: The people. It’s, it’s what brought me… You know, we just moved here when I graduated high school. I volunteer with 52 Jungle EMS. I’ve been local in the community. The biggest thing for me is the people and what we stand for here, and that’s why, you know, we’re very fortunate to [00:33:00] meet and help others. And, you know, for us, for me, it’s always been the people.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s great, great. That’s what most people say. That’s what I think. I always think it’s the people. Well, we’d like to thank Kevin Hassell, the owner of Bulldog Express here at 4042 40 Veterans, 40 Veterans Parkway, 40 exit 312, whatever you wanna call it, for being our guest on this week’s episode of the Best Of Johnston County podcast.

As we mentioned earlier, please like, follow, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media channels, Best Johnston County podcast. Leave us a five-star review down below. Tell us what you like about the Best Johnston County podcast, or suggest other people that you think might be interesting people for us to interview here on the Best Johnston County podcast.

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That’s [00:34:00] the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.