First Class School & Office Supplies’ Blog

As a local, family-owned and operated office supply company located in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, we often battle misconceptions when compared to “Big Box” national chain stores.  As a result of the millions of dollars these corporate giants spend on advertising, companies like ours are often perceived as having higher prices, less expertise, and limited product selection.  These perceptions couldn’t be further from the truth.

The fact-of-the-matter is, if you were to ask our many satisfied customers, they’d tell you that they choose to do business with us because we deliver the best of both worlds – product selection and pricing equivalent to or better than the national chains combined with a superior level of personalized customer service.

Most importantly, the entire local economy benefits when local businesses support each other.  Numerous studies have shown that dollars spent with locally owned companies are reinvested back into the community several times over whereas money spent with national chains tends to be invested elsewhere.  Did you know that “locally-owned businesses generate as much as two- to three- times the local economic activity as do chains” (via Thinking Outside The Box).  Also, for every $100 dollars spent at a local business, as much as $68 stays in the local economy, compared to $43 when the same amount is spent at a chain store (via Andersonville Study of Retail Economics)

Here are some more examples of why it makes sense to buy locally:

• Local businesses support local realtors, accountants, attorneys, architects, merchants, developers, financial institutions, insurance firms, restaurants, schools and other community resources

• Local businesses pay more taxes and rarely receive preferential tax breaks or subsidies

• Local businesses provide employment for your family, friends and neighbors

• Local businesses make up the distinctive personality of the community

• Local businesses sustain a healthy and vibrant main street USA

• Local businesses support local charities

This doesn’t just apply to the office supply industry, it applies to many of the “small” community businesses – banks, electronics stores, furniture stores, grocery stores, drug stores, hardware stores, gift shops, the list goes on…

I’m not just saying to buy local either – we practice what we preach here.  It’s not any kind of company policy or anything formal like that, it just happens to be that the people we do business with are local.  Our accountant, lawyer, photographer, bank, printer, web designer, web hosting company…are all local businesses, may of which are a husband and wife team, that we have used for many years.  If I have questions, or need something in a hurry, I never get caught in an off-shore phone tree. When I call them, the phone rings, and a person answers the phone.  I KNOW!  Shocking, right?  If I leave a message, someone calls me back – usually the same day.

It’s so frustrating to know that you have something great to offer people, but the perception gets in the way.

…………………………We interrupt this blog post for a mini-rant…………………………

Ok, so you want to know what really gets me?  I’ll tell you (if you don’t what to know, scroll down)…I try to attend local networking events on a pretty regular basis.  It’s a great way to learn about the businesses in the community.  Usually when I first meet someone at one of these events, the question comes up “So…what do you do?”.  Of course, I tell them what I do and a little bit about the company…ask them who they are currently using for their office product needs, and the answer is ALWAYS the same…<<insert nation big-box chain name here>>>.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Do you want to know what the kicker is?  9 times out of 10, the person I’m talking to is from a local business, with great products and even better customer service, competing with the big guys and looking to make connections in-order to grow their business.

Why is that?  I’ll tell you why – because they didn’t know they had a choice.  Well, I’m here to tell you, you have more choices than you know – it just takes a little digging sometimes to find them, but I can assure you, it’s time well spent.

…………….We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog post………………….

Let’s start changing our perception.  Let’s support each other by keeping it local.

If you’re in the same boat we are, butting heads with the ‘big box’ stores when you meet with potential customers or clients, what do you do or say to change “the perception”?  Leave us your thoughts, stories, suggestions, or complaints (or should I say, “rant”).