About Us
To The Extent We Serve... We Succeed!
Coastal Business Supplies, Inc. began operations in the spring of 1990 as a "Distribution Company" with the sole mission of offering supplies to the "Quick Print" market. Our base of customers included many of the 55,000 printers and copy shops in the United States at that time, as well as several franchises like Sir Speedy, Allegra (American Speedy), and PIP. We were also a supplier to a number of the Kinko's "company-owned" stores.
As the "Quick Print" market made significant adjustments in the late 1990's, Coastal had to make similar changes. The introduction of desktop publishing and the color printer into the offices and homes across the country began to change the complexion of the Copy Shops and Print Shops. Once it became possible for the end user to perform many of the tasks they once relied on their printers to do, the Quick Print landscape began to shrink, and so did we.
We quickly regrouped as a "Distribution Company," adjusted our inventories, and became a supplier to many different markets. We have been honored to supply products to countless Individuals, Small Businesses, Schools and Universities, Government Offices, Sign Shops, Screen Printers and Embroiderers. A few of our large fashion and retail customers include The Limited, Express, Vermont Teddy Bear and NIKE. Also on our list of prestigious customers is The White House, Boeing, General Motors, Microsoft, and General Electric.
The education we received along the way has been extraordinary. But the important lessons came during times of crisis and economic reversals. The truly important lessons came at a time when we, and many of our neighbors, were victims of the Flood of 1993 in the Midwest. We lost everything we had to 12 feet of water and had no flood insurance. It was during this time that we were introduced to what is really important in life, when people we didn't know, and had never met before, came to help. We were humbled, yet grateful, that people and organizations really existed to help in times of need...long after the TV cameras were gone.
As a result of this 1993 experience, we made a commitment as a company to accept our social responsibilities and have made a pledge to make quarterly contributions to various charities in an effort to try to give back to our community. As you view these charities on our web page, which will change from time to time, please keep in mind that each one of these organizations represents a disease or cause that has personally afflicted one of our employees or their family.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve our customers and hope that each of you will feel that you have been treated fairly in your experiences with Coastal. We try to accomplish this by operating our company under the simplest of filters with which we make our decisions, The Golden Rule. By doing this, we recognize and truly believe "To The Extent We Serve...We Succeed!
Andy Pickering
President