Office supply dealer counters competitors with name, over-the-top service

First, some numbers:

In 1982, independent businesses captured nearly half of all retail spending in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

By 2009, independent retailers saw their share drop to 28 percent as national chains continued to grow market share. The impact of the shift was particularly evident in the office supply sector where the number of independently-owned suppliers fell from about 16,000 in the 1960s to around 4,100 in 2009, according to the National Office Products Association.

Many of the independent locally-owned office supply and stationary stores were family-owned enterprises. When industry leaders Office Depot, Office Max and Staples began selling office supplies at a substantial discount in their stores and on websites, many local office supply and stationary store owners quickly found themselves at a competitive disadvantage and either merged with their competitors or shut down.

In 2000, the owner of a Vinton-based office supply business embarked on a two-pronged strategy to buck the national trend.

Kurt Karr, who had purchased Apex Office Supply in 1996 from his father and uncle, renamed the company Monkeytown.

"Office supply businesses typically have names that are either very similar or hard to remember," said Karr, top banana at Monkeytown. "Coming up with a name like Monkeytown just stops people. I don't go in and say 'Hi, I'm Kurt with Monkeytown office supplies.' I just say 'Hi, I'm Monkeytown's top banana' and that usually gets their attention.

"(The name) 'Monkeytown' also keeps us focused on creativity. Solving problems creatively is where we find opportunity.

"'Monkeytown' also reminds us never to take ourselves too seriously. Really, are paper clips ever a matter of life and death?"

Whether it's carrying six cartons of copy paper  up two flights of stairs, or delivering and setting up a filing cabinet and hauling away the carton, Karr believes out-of-the-ordinary customer service and competitive pricing will set Monkeytown apart from national chains and online suppliers.

"When someone delivers supplies from a national chain, a third-party carrier brings it in and they're done," Karr said. "Our folks will carry the supplies to where they need to be stocked. They also will help with returns and set up furniture for our customers.

"We have some customers where we keep track of their inventory and replenish it without them having to worry about it. We have to be able to compete on price and we can."

Although the Internet has offered a convenient means of price checking and ordering office supplies from local businesses such as Monkeytown and national chains, a check of Corridor businesses and non-profit organizations found most prefer to buy from local or regional suppliers.

"We believe in supporting businesses in the community," said Lynn DeVore, treasurer and director of human resources and administration at Millhiser-Smith, a northeast Ceder Rapids insurance agency. "We typically split our office supply purchases between Baker Paper and Tallgrass Business Resources."

Supplier agreements negotiated at the corporate level determine where some Corridor organizations purchase their office supplies.

The Iowa Department of Administrative Services awarded a contract to Office Max for all office supplies purchased by state agencies. The contract, which was awarded through competitive bids, also includes the City of Des Moines and other municipalities and government agencies that have chosen to buy their supplies through the state.

Karr said he understands that the Iowa Department of Administrative Services has the right to award a contract for goods and services, but he also points out the local impact of buying from a national chain.

"When you choose to send your dollars to the larger national companies, you're creating very few -- if any -- jobs in your community," Karr said. "When you buy from a local businesses, the dollars you spend provide jobs in the community."

Karr said office supply businesses and other independent retailers face a challenge beyond pricing and customer service.

"The biggest challenge that we face today is marketing and the use of data," he said.

"Recently, a manufacturer came out with a digital thermometer. Google determined when people searched for different phrases, someone in their home had a fever. The manufacturer was able to push market the thermometer to them with a drug store near their home that stocked it and listed the local price.

"It wasn't a locally-owned pharmacy, but rather a national chain. That's the peril that we face as independent retailers."

Karr said Monkeytown has launched a marketing business, Monkeythis. to provide marketing solutions to independent retailers that will enable them take market share from regional and national competitors.

"We're working with four pharmacies to identify who in their trade area is not a customer of any one of them," he said. "Now, we can market to those people, knowing full well that anyone who begins trading with them is new business."

Karr is encouraged that more people are looking to buy goods and services close to home, noting the growth of community-supported agriculture.

"I think the pendulum is swinging in our direction and not away from us," he said. "There are a growing number of people who are trying to be conscious of where their dollars go and who they support."