GFI Digital enters Springfield market

St. Louis-based office equipment dealer GFI Digital Inc. entered the Springfield market May 1 through a partial acquisition of Ricoh USA’s book of business, and sales manager Andrew Spurling said a move into the former Office Concepts building on West Sunshine Street is planned next month.

GFI Digital is temporarily operating out of The eFactory downtown, Spurling said, until a June 1 scheduled closing for the 1723 W. Sunshine St. bank-owned building vacated when Office Concepts shut down in November 2014.

“We’ve been trying to get down there for quite a while,” said GFI Marketing Director Chrissy Roofe. “Ricoh had a client base in that market we recently acquired from them.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Spurling, who moved from Cape Girardeau to open the office for GFI owner Bruce Gibbs and Gibbs Family Investments, said GFI is under contract to buy the Sunshine Street building from Bank of Bolivar. He was unaware of the purchase price. Chambers Real Estate Services LLC lists the 6,600-square-foot building for sale at $645,000, and Greene County assessor records indicate the 2017 appraised value is $565,100.

Office Concepts’ signage on the building remains. Spurling expects renovations to wrap up and the move to take place by mid-June.

As a dealer for Ricoh and Sharp office products, and a provider of managed information technology and printing services, Roofe said GFI is a $70 million company. It also sells hardware for Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, VMware and Dell.

GFI has not yet established revenue projections for the Springfield market. But Roofe said executives expect copier products, its core business, to lead sales.

“That gives us an in to introduction to other services. Our core business gets us in the door,” she said. “Our growth is typically upwards of 10 percent annually. We started in 1999 with three employees and we’ve got roughly 250 employees in nine markets now.”

Spurling declined to disclose the number of local Ricoh accounts acquired but said GFI bought all of Missouri and parts of Illinois and Kansas. He currently works with two salespeople and plans to hire at least two more.

In a letter to customers, Ricoh Executive Vice President of Office Solutions Peter Stuart said, “We know your business needs are constantly evolving, and we’re focused on continually improving how we support you to ensure we are meeting and exceeding your expectations. I am pleased to share details about a change at Ricoh, designed to shift our resources to better support and deliver value to you. Effective May 1, 2017, your office will be supported by GFI Digital Inc., an esteemed Ricoh Family Group Dealer.”

The move comes a month after Springfield’s largest office equipment dealer, the $15 million Corporate Business Systems, sold to St. Louis-based SumnerOne Inc. A $61 million company with eight offices across Missouri, Illinois and Kansas, SumnerOne picked up 8,000 clients in the deal. Corporate Business Systems retained its name and all 80 employees had the option to stay, executives said.

GFI’s Springfield office is its ninth, Roofe said, spread across Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.