The struggle for the local guy against national chains happens in many, if not most industries. Supplying the businesses in those industries is the challenge of office supply retailers, both local and large.
Steve Penton, owner of Gibson’s Office Supply Inc., 16 W. Grant Road, believes there will always be small companies.
  
|
"Why do we fight this battle?" he asked. "It’s a sense of pride in our knowledge of the industry. We have far greater experience in this building than all of the superstores here in town."
Penton has been in the office supply business for more than 27 years and his purchasing manager Ray Bush has been in the industry for more than 37 years.
Gibson’s, Tucson’s oldest office supply store, was founded in 1946 by Roger Gibson. Penton purchased it Jan. 1, 1981.
"We’re pretty much set in our niche now," Penton said. It took a lot for Penton to get there though.
"First Price Club (now Costco) came to town, then Biz Mart and Office Depot," Penton said. "But eventually it finally leveled out and we started growing the business back from being hammered down."
Now five Office Depots and eight Office Max stores are in the market and Staples is not too far away. Not to mention the Wal-Marts, Targets and competing local stores.
Still the Gibson’s $1.4 million in gross sales last year is nothing to sniff at.
For many smaller companies, the secret is finding a niche and filling the need in that niche.
"We’re the only store in Tucson that carries the inventory to be a full-service, full-line store that can take an order today and deliver it today," Penton said. "These big mega stores have to deliver from a warehouse outside the market."
Penton gives credit to the big stores for their niches.
"They have some great loss leaders," he said. "But there is nothing you can get there that you can’t get here. And if we don’t have it in the store, we draw from three giant warehouses, that can overnight or second- day deliver the product to you."
Penton learned from his time in the auto business to cut the market like a pie. If there were five companies in town, the pie was cut into five slices. If a sixth person came into the market is was divided into six parts.
"So a new place like a Staples or whatever else comes just divides our pie to have one more piece, it won’t take away my whole piece or anyone else’s," he said.
One thing that surprises Penton about his industry is the amount of time people spend searching for the best deals on things at different supply stores.
"People who spend all that time chasing the best price are losing the time they could be spending on their business and actually bringing money in to the business," he said. "Office supplies makes up maybe 1 percent of the total expenses for the year. They can search the Web for half an hour for one thing, or they could call us and we can handle it instantly."
Another long-time Tucson company that has survived is Sasiadek’s Information Technologies.
Owner Roy Sasiadek likes to tell people his company has just started the second half of their first 100 years.
"I like for people to know that we are in this for the long haul," Sasiadek said. "Just because a company is big doesn’t mean they are going to be around forever. There was a company called PBS&W back when we started and it was the giant of the industry, but now it’s gone and there isn’t company left to trace its roots to it."
One thing that has helped Sasiadek stay in business has been his ability to adapt his business to his clients’ needs.
According to its website, Sasiadeks’ first machines serviced were two Remington portable typewriters and a hand operated adding machine. As the years have gone by, portable typewriters led to the creation of electric typewriters, which developed into word processors that eventually evolved into desktop computers.
"We’ve only been servicing desktop computers for 10 years," Sasiadek said. "But we’ve spent 50 years learning how to take care of our customers."
To take care of customers, you have to take care of employees. Sasiadek has retired two people, has another who has been with the company for 24 years, and his office manager used to be a receptionist.
The two strengths that have helped Sasiadek’s through tough times are the commitment to the businesses it serves and its ability to change, as change was required.
One of Sasiadek’s strategies has been to find areas where the big retailers can’t compete and fill that void.
"The printers that we typically sell and service are much larger than what you would find at one of the chain stores," he said. "But we will repair any printer."
The company has a large inventory of printer parts on hand so that nearly 90 percent of problems can be solved on the first visit.
One of the fun twists to business, is when someone takes a printer back to a chain office supply store, and the printer has to be shipped out for repairs. Often times, if it is a Dell, Lexmark, Brother or HP printer, the manufacturer tells the store to send the printer to Sasiadek’s for repair.
Looking to the future, Sasiadek said he believed the changes would be more evolutionary than revolutionary.
"But you have to adapt to what your clients’ needs are to stick around, and we will be around," he said.
Contact Joe Pangburn at jpangburn@azbiz.com or at (520) 295-4259. Gibson’s Office Supply 16 W. Grant Road (520) 622-6738 Carries offices supplies, furniture and equipment. Sasiadek’s Information Systems 4555 S. Palo Verde Road, Suite 131 (520) 748-1240 Offers printer repair, large printer sales as well as outsourced IT personnel. Also recycles printer cartridges.
Supplies can have same-day delivery.
Comments