Office-Supply Firms in School Market

Office-supply companies look at parents weighed down withnotebook paper and crayons and see gravy.

While other retailers plan the remainder of the year aroundtheir August and September sales, office-supply stores have no suchgrand plan. They've got four to six weeks to cash in on studentsstocking up for school.

After mid-September, the parents trickle away and the smallbusinesses that are the core customers for this retailing nichereturn.

But there's good money to be made in the meantime. For the pastfew years, school-related sales are picking up at office-supplystores, thanks to the growth of chains and superstores in the localmarket and their increased advertising.

"This gives us a big kickoff to our fall," said Lynn Young, acustomer service representative at Budde's Office Supply Stores, inSchaumburg and East Dundee. "Without it, we could survive but not asnicely."

To better serve back-to-school customers, retailers are puttingsupplies in smaller packages and moving them to the front of storesto make shopping more convenient. Office-supply stores also arekeeping a keen eye on the prices of similar products at supermarkets,general merchandisers and drugstores.

"Every mass merchandiser features back-to-school," said BobO'Hanlon, marketing vice president for Arvey Paper & Office Products,which operates eight Chicago-area stores. "We're in competition witheverybody. I don't think anybody dominates the thing anymore. Thebusiness is spread out among the stores."

But there may be another reason why office-supply stores arecatching on with consumers.

"A lot of parents do it because they can charge it to theircompany's account," Young said.