/ Business of the Month / Eagle River Office Supply & Copy Center
Business of the Month: March 2024
Eagle River Office Supply & Copy Center
Eagle River Office Supply & Copy Center
611 E. Wall Street
Eagle River, WI
Phone: (715) 337-2324
www.eaglerivercopy.com
We recently had the opportunity to meet with Ken Caudill, Co-Owner of Eagle River Office Supply, to learn about the growth of their business and expansion plans.
Tell us how you established Eagle River Office Supply & Copy Center.
I grew up on a dairy farm west of Wausau in Central Wisconsin. I was the oldest of nine kids and was always interested in paper and printing. At age 16, I designed and produced labels for a bakery on a friend’s Mac computer and was hooked. That was back in the late 1980’s and graphic design software was just becoming available for Windows.
I always wanted to have a business of my own, but after failing on my first attempt, I decided that I needed to learn more about business and marketing. I began reading and worked jobs that I thought would teach me the skills I needed. Eventually, I moved to Eagle River to sell cars at Eagle River Ford. After several years, I saw that CW Business was going out of business. I checked it out and decided that the local market would be perfect for my dream business. Then, I started working towards opening my own copy center.
In December of 2017, I married Jane, a sweet lady from the Philippines. In January of 2018, we started the Eagle River Copy Center, and within six months we were living on the income from that business. Our business has grown very fast and we have expanded twice in the first four years. Our family has also grown as we now have two boys, Andy and Reed, ages five and three. God has guided us every step of the way, and I attribute our success to His blessing.
Why was it important to have your business in Eagle River?
Eagle River is a great place to do business. It’s small enough to feel friendly and safe and yet, there are plenty of people and businesses who need our services. There are also a lot of communities nearby that Eagle River serves. When I started the copy center, I always thought it would be nice to eventually have an office supply store connected to it, but near the end of 2019 when OfficeMax closed in Rhinelander, I knew I better jump on the opportunity. I bought some of their shelving when they closed and within six months, we opened our office supply store.
How many customers do you serve each year?
We have served more than 6,000 different customers over the last six years. Many of those are repeat customers. We continue to grow our customer base and now, we serve approximately 600 customers each month. Many of our customers are local, but we also have lots of tourists who find us on Google.
What products and services do you offer?
We have been printing for six years, but the office supply store is where we have seen some of our biggest growth in the last couple years. We continue expanding our inventory variety. Many of the things we sell are because of requests from our customers. We sell all kinds of paper products and organizational things like file folders and desk organizers as well as common office supplies like pens, pencils, staplers, laminators, and clip boards.
We have also been growing our technology inventory. We sell a large variety of ink. We even sell printers and a few laptops. We have computer accessories such as keyboards and mouse devices, as well as a variety of cords, chargers, flash drives and adapters. We love it that so many of our customers believe in buying local and come to us rather than shopping online. We enjoy being a part of this community and are so happy to be able to fill a need right here in Eagle River.
Tell us about your expansion plans.
We have a contract to add another suite in our current building later this year, which will double the size of our store. We are planning to expand the size of our copy center as well as increase the office supply space. We plan to begin carrying some office furniture such as office chairs, desks, filing cabinets, chair mats and whatever else we find is needed.
What types of staff positions will you be hiring?
Rick joined me four years ago when we opened the office supply store. He staffs the desk, answers the phone, and converts old video tapes to digital videos on DVDs or flash drives. This past year, we hired another part-time graphic designer in anticipation of this expansion, and plan to hire a full-time office manager to take care of inventory and keep track of orders.
How do you give back to the community, and why is this important to you?
We enjoy giving back to our community in a variety of ways. Many of our local non-profit organizations have received free design work or reduced printing costs because we believe in what they are doing. There are so many great programs and services in our community from Snowmobile and ATV clubs to Food Pantries and Counseling services. This community has been so good to us and we want to show our appreciation by giving back where we can.
Congratulations Ken, Jane, and Rick!
