Supply Company Keeps Competitive Edge

Calvert McBride Inc. has stapled itself to Fort Smith’s office supply landscape with a massive catalog. Kevin McBride, the firm’s office products division manager, said by offering a catalog with more than 25,000 items, the business is able to stay competitive in a sector dominated by national chains.

Whether it’s mega retailers such as Staples, Office Max and Office Depot, growing demands for used and refurbished office furniture or even the rising raw materials costs that have pressured customers, a variety of factors have pushed many established mom-and-pop supply shops to the brink of extinction.

McBride, who coincidentally is not related to any of the McBrides who helped start the company with the Calvert family in 1910, said the catalog helps the firm differentiate itself. Even back when it started, the business had a catalog although it was very thin.

Now it’s the size of a metropolitan city phone book.

“There weren’t that many products, plus they were sold at list price,” McBride said. “Profitability-wise, in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, profits were high in office supplies because nobody asked questions. It was a very good business to be in.”

It’s apparently still a good business, even for a small company.

McBride said sales have been up 11 or 12 percent during the past several years. Anyone who owns a company needs supplies.

McBride said 50 percent of the company’s office supply sales volume comes from toner cartridges. Overall, it sells about 40 percent office furniture and 60 percent general office supplies.

The bulk of purchases comes from the top 20 percent of office products, including staples, copy paper and pens. Profits are made through other purchases that go along with the common items.

The company does more than sell its wares and printing services nationally, though. It works with different types of businesses to help them find the right setup for their office.

McBride has a computer-automated design program he uses to map out office floor plans. After that, he’s able to tell what products can or cannot work in that environment.

The firm works with companies that have more than 100 employees and with companies that have fewer than 10. Its biggest project was the Fort Smith libraries, including a 60,000-SF main library, in 2001.

Even with sales up, McBride said high prices on raw materials have made a lot of small- to mid-sized companies look for ways to cut costs. That includes buying slightly used, imported or refurbished office furniture. He said bigger businesses will pay the cost to get new supplies, but new big businesses aren’t common in the area. That makes his firm rely heavily on the other business segments.

The company, which employs 55 people in the printing and office supply segments, has an 8,760-SF showroom and a 15,000-SF printing warehouse. Along with being an office-supply dealer, it is a general line printer. McBride said that means the firm prints everything from business cards to brochures. It also carries facility supplies such as mops and brooms, and health management supplies, including bandages and first-aid kits.

“Diversity has been kind of a key for market segments, trying to penetrate and expand your base because it’s extremely competitive,” McBride said.

Calvert McBride started out as a printing company and in 1954 bought an office supply company. It started off as a backdoor way to get more business.

“They began to sell office supplies as an intro to break into the business of printing,” McBride said. “Over the years it just stood on its own.”