Springfield Office Supply: Third-generation owner says dedicated employees are key to long-term success

For more than 90 years Springfield Office Supply Inc. has been locally owned and operated. Now its third generation owner, Bill Abbott Sr., is adding another chapter to its life by consolidating its stores at 618 N. Stewart and 3861 South Ave. in southwest Springfield, near Kansas Expressway and Republic Road.

What was started in 1910 as Spring-field Typewriter Exchange by its founder J.P. O'Connor has evolved into a $5 million business that includes Springfield's Office Plus and a franchise of Office Furniture USA.

Abbott, the owner of both stores, is combining them at one location under the parent name Springfield Office Supply Inc.

"All of our company will be under that one roof," Abbott said. "Our primary reason for doing this is to be able to service and take care of our customer because they've been good to us."

The new 25,000-square-foot location, estimated to cost $1.7 million, will be at Cox and Kingsley roads and will house both office products and furniture sales. It will include a10,000-square-foot furniture showroom, a 10,000-square-foot warehouse and 2,000 square feet of retail space. The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce held a groundbreaking ceremony June 29, and the project is scheduled for completion Dec. 15.

"We were very fortunate to find that location ... and buy that property," Abbott said. "Our location is the main thing. Our town is growing, and I think that southwest direction is growing. It's going to be good for our business."

Abbott first became acquainted with the business when he drove its delivery truck when he was just out of high school in 1961. After 28 years, and experience in performing every facet of the company's operations, Abbott purchased Springfield Office Supply Inc. in 1988 from Bill Buckner, its second owner.

"The year I bought it was the year the economy began to dive," Abbott said. "So we went from a $3 million dollar company ... down to $1.6 million. (It) scared me to death."

When he bought the company, there was also a facility in Sedalia. After the economic dip, he was forced to close that facility and decrease his employees from 26 to 12.

"We've had some hard times," Abbott said. "It's interesting how we've survived through it all. I look back at it and it's almost emotional. We're a small business and we've survived and we've had a good time. But it's been through the endeavor of my employees; they're the ones who have really stuck with me."

It took two years for the company to bounce back, Abbott said, and today it has a 4,000-person customer database made up of everything from one-person offices to large manufacturers and corporations with as many as 3,000 employees. The company offers "everything from paper clips all the way up to office furniture systems," Abbott said. And that extends to carpet, wall coverings and furniture layout and design. Today he employs 28 between the two companies.

"Most of my employees are long-time employees," Abbott said. "I guess that's the secret of the success ... we're very fortunate to have good employees. With the way that competition is today, it is important to have employees who care about their job."

He said other small businesses are good competition, but the mass merchandisers, like Office Max, Office Depot, Boise Cascade and US Office Products, have an unfair advantage.

"It is still a struggle with the influence of the big boxes, the mass merchandisers," he said. "There are office supply companies that most people would recognize as a Wal-Mart. These guys have got the deep pockets where they can advertise and give you the perception that they've got the deals."

According to Abbott, there have been thousands of office supply companies forced out of business, but "the rest of them have survived, and they've done it primarily like we have, on service and determination and good employees that's always a key element."

To assist in his buying, Abbott is a member of the Independent Stationers Group, an office supply buying group made up of more than 500 independent dealers.

Other changes in the industry have benefited the small businesses, he said. One such way is in communications and technology.

"The market's changing," Abbott said. "It has changed immensely, primarily the technology the computerization has ... enabled us to perform a lot differently."

The newest technological advancement for Springfield Office Supply Inc. is its online ordering system. Abbott said there is an online database of 500 customers who can place and inquire about orders, check-back orders, check inventory and get copies of invoices.

"That's been a substantial influence on our business," he said. "We've got some very major companies in the Springfield area that use that system," he said. "The nice thing about it is that they can place their order at their own convenience."

New technology also allows Abbott to produce a drawing and a complete quotation in 35 to 40 minutes, when it used to take two or three days.

Furthermore, it assists in the company's internal systems, such as the ordering process and customer accounts, and makes recalling invoices a couple-of-minutes task rather than the hour-long search through paper files that it used to be, he said.

Abbott said he'd encourage other small businesses to take advantage of similar advancements in their respective industries.

He credits a strong business community in Springfield for the vitality of his business and urges local businesses to get involved with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the community as a whole.

"We have a very strong business climate here," he said. "We've got a tremendous chamber of commerce ... tremendous leadership here. If people will service and take care of their accounts and treat people like they like to be treated it's a long road and it's tough but ... it does work."