Great news...December was our best sales month the entire year. Looks like we're starting to hit on all cylinders. Hmmm, if Waldeck's strives to be the latest and greatest in eco-oriented click and mortar businesses, can we use the internal combustion engine as a metaphor? Do plug in hybrids even have cyclinders? Us green businesses, we have to be very careful with our messaging.
Anyway...
It's been a wonderful year. Waldeck's was selected by the California Air Resources Board for their first ever "Cool California" Award. We substantially upgraded our e-commerce platform for easier online ordering for our customers. We landed the contract of the San Francisco Mayor's Office and had a festive 55 year anniversary celebration.
In 2010, we look forward to serving our current customers even better, bringing lots of new customers into the fold and, as always, making the purchases of office supplies a joyful, community-oriented, eco-friendly experience.
Happy New Year!
Clifford Waldeck
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Loma Prieta and Waldeck's--20 Years Later
1989, it was a wonderful time for Waldeck’s, I’d been working with my dad for eight years, business was good, we were looking to expand and we were excited about becoming the first office supply store ever in the Embarcadero Center (EC). My high school friend, Karin Young of the Edward Plant Company, was the leasing agent for EC and we found a reasonably priced site with high car traffic visibility. With my brother in law as the contractor, we began construction on the store and the excitement and anticipation was building. Waldeck’s was opening a second store!
On the baseball front, these were wonderful times as well. My friend Bill, had a friend named Bill who had a friend Chris who worked for one of the TV networks and he had many, many tickets to all the playoff games. My friends and I were in playoff heaven as we attended most of the A’s and Giant’s playoff games that lead to the World Series.
My high school buddies Bob and Doug came with me to Game Three at Candlestick. Great seats, twenty rows behind third base. I was getting some food before the game and while returning to the seats, standing at about the top of the box seat section, I felt a sensation like I was standing in a canoe trying to balance…wobbling for a few seconds. I thought “hey, it’s an earthquake…what a trip!” Bob, Doug and I were reveling in the novelty of the experience and expecting the game to start any moment, unbeknownedst to the realities of the outside world. Bob was listening on his radio and heard that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. A collective “Whoa…that’s gnarly!” and seriousness quickly set in. We stuck around Candlestick for a quite a while and when the stadium cleared out we knew it was time to leave.
We first drove to Waldeck’s Embarcadero store, which was to open in three weeks. Aside from a few broken glass shelves, the store was fine. Our flagship 526 Washington Street store experienced more damage, the window above our front door had shattered, lots of merchandise was all over the floor and a few fixtures has toppled.
Next we went to the St. Francis Hotel to find our friend Chris. Walking around the darkened interior, we ran into Chris Berman of ESPN, had a nice conversation and gave him our flashlight. A few weeks later, I received a nice note from Chris Berman thanking us for the flashlight. We found our friend Chris, he was okay and at about 11:00 p.m., Doug, Bob and I headed home driving past the glow of the Marina fires on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. What a day of transition.
And the 20 years since October 17 1989 have been years of transition, too. We opened the Embarcadero store on schedule. We invested in large signs that could be seen by the thousands of motorists that would pass by our store as they entered the Embarcadero Freeway - needless to say, the motorists never came! Although Waldeck’s was in a remote outside corner of the Embarcadero Center where some customers would comment “I didn’t know you were here…but we’re glad you are!", we had many great customers from law offices, insurance companies and investment firms housed in the Embarcadero Center, as well as the warm, friendly, retirees living in the Golden Gateway Center apartments.
Unfortunately, Waldeck’s remoteness had its downside as well. With two armed robberies, three break-ins, and a landlord request to remodel, we decided to close the store after a 14-year run; Waldeck’s location there is now a Vietnamese restaurant.
Now in 2009, just a few blocks away, Waldeck's is still in business, a leader in the greening of the office supply industry and through the effective use of the internet and all its tools like e-commerce and e-marketing, Waldeck's is reaching many more potential customers than any freeway on ramp ever could!
On the baseball front, these were wonderful times as well. My friend Bill, had a friend named Bill who had a friend Chris who worked for one of the TV networks and he had many, many tickets to all the playoff games. My friends and I were in playoff heaven as we attended most of the A’s and Giant’s playoff games that lead to the World Series.
My high school buddies Bob and Doug came with me to Game Three at Candlestick. Great seats, twenty rows behind third base. I was getting some food before the game and while returning to the seats, standing at about the top of the box seat section, I felt a sensation like I was standing in a canoe trying to balance…wobbling for a few seconds. I thought “hey, it’s an earthquake…what a trip!” Bob, Doug and I were reveling in the novelty of the experience and expecting the game to start any moment, unbeknownedst to the realities of the outside world. Bob was listening on his radio and heard that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. A collective “Whoa…that’s gnarly!” and seriousness quickly set in. We stuck around Candlestick for a quite a while and when the stadium cleared out we knew it was time to leave.
We first drove to Waldeck’s Embarcadero store, which was to open in three weeks. Aside from a few broken glass shelves, the store was fine. Our flagship 526 Washington Street store experienced more damage, the window above our front door had shattered, lots of merchandise was all over the floor and a few fixtures has toppled.
Next we went to the St. Francis Hotel to find our friend Chris. Walking around the darkened interior, we ran into Chris Berman of ESPN, had a nice conversation and gave him our flashlight. A few weeks later, I received a nice note from Chris Berman thanking us for the flashlight. We found our friend Chris, he was okay and at about 11:00 p.m., Doug, Bob and I headed home driving past the glow of the Marina fires on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. What a day of transition.
And the 20 years since October 17 1989 have been years of transition, too. We opened the Embarcadero store on schedule. We invested in large signs that could be seen by the thousands of motorists that would pass by our store as they entered the Embarcadero Freeway - needless to say, the motorists never came! Although Waldeck’s was in a remote outside corner of the Embarcadero Center where some customers would comment “I didn’t know you were here…but we’re glad you are!", we had many great customers from law offices, insurance companies and investment firms housed in the Embarcadero Center, as well as the warm, friendly, retirees living in the Golden Gateway Center apartments.
Unfortunately, Waldeck’s remoteness had its downside as well. With two armed robberies, three break-ins, and a landlord request to remodel, we decided to close the store after a 14-year run; Waldeck’s location there is now a Vietnamese restaurant.
Now in 2009, just a few blocks away, Waldeck's is still in business, a leader in the greening of the office supply industry and through the effective use of the internet and all its tools like e-commerce and e-marketing, Waldeck's is reaching many more potential customers than any freeway on ramp ever could!
Monday, September 14, 2009
It's Nice Having Friends Around the State
Over the past few years, I've had the pleasure to work with other small businesses around California on a statewide office supply contract. Shawn and Oz in Campbell, Tim in San Diego, James in Santa Monica, Bonnie in Rancho Cordova, Mark in Roseville, Tim and Susan in Lafayette--it continues to be a wonderful collective groove as we share stories of our businesses, our great customers and even what we do when we're not wearing our office supply hats. I consider them my friends. Best of luck to all us...I look forward to working with you for years to come!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
I Love Being In The Sentiment Business
I contend that no green office supply store is complete without a large assortment of eco-friendly greeting cards.
Yeah, I know there's Facebook, Linkedin, e-mail, blogs, Twitter...hey, I use 'em all but, with all due respect to the electronic era, nothing beats a nice hand written note...it's personal, tactile and kind of shows that you care about someone. They can be humorous, warm, serious, caring, loving and just downright silly.
All Waldeck's greeting cards are either made of recycled paper or tree free paper...some are even made with hemp (put THAT in your pipe and...).
Perhaps, the most wonderful feeling is when two people are looking at the cards together, start chuckling, laughing harder and then start laughing and chuckling about the next card before they're done laughing and chuckling from the previous card. It's a joyful sound that brings alot of positive vibes and great spirit into Waldeck's and that's why I love being in the sentiment business.
Yeah, I know there's Facebook, Linkedin, e-mail, blogs, Twitter...hey, I use 'em all but, with all due respect to the electronic era, nothing beats a nice hand written note...it's personal, tactile and kind of shows that you care about someone. They can be humorous, warm, serious, caring, loving and just downright silly.
All Waldeck's greeting cards are either made of recycled paper or tree free paper...some are even made with hemp (put THAT in your pipe and...).
Perhaps, the most wonderful feeling is when two people are looking at the cards together, start chuckling, laughing harder and then start laughing and chuckling about the next card before they're done laughing and chuckling from the previous card. It's a joyful sound that brings alot of positive vibes and great spirit into Waldeck's and that's why I love being in the sentiment business.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Waldeck's Lands Mayor's Office Contract
Waldeck's is excited and honored to be awarded a three year office supply contract with the San Francisco Mayor's Office. We are grateful to Mayor Gavin Newsom, who walked the "support your local small business" talk and asked that his office by serviced by a micro-LBE (a local business entity that does less than three million dollars in sales). We're a month into the contract and all is going well. We look forward to keeping the Mayor's Office, as well as all our other great customers, happy and feeling wonderful for a long time to come.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Waldeck's Excitement Creators
Friends often inquire, "how do you compete against the big guys?" I reply "you mean SODOM?" "What's that?" I'm asked. "SODOM...Staples, Office Depot and Office Max."
So much for my attempt at acronymic humor, we are all in this office supplier boat together and collectively we strive to get the customer/consumer excited about the products and services we offer.
Fortunately for Waldeck's. we have a whole cadre of "excitement creators" called manufacturer's reps. They're awesome! They provide demonstrations of products, free samples and, keep us in the loop of what is the latest and greatest.
Hat's off to Josie, Tim, Chip, Steve, Mary, Nick, David, George, Clarke, Reed and Debra...hearfelt thanks for all you do for Waldeck's and our wonderful customers.
So much for my attempt at acronymic humor, we are all in this office supplier boat together and collectively we strive to get the customer/consumer excited about the products and services we offer.
Fortunately for Waldeck's. we have a whole cadre of "excitement creators" called manufacturer's reps. They're awesome! They provide demonstrations of products, free samples and, keep us in the loop of what is the latest and greatest.
Hat's off to Josie, Tim, Chip, Steve, Mary, Nick, David, George, Clarke, Reed and Debra...hearfelt thanks for all you do for Waldeck's and our wonderful customers.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wonderful
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Waldeck's where we will explore, analyze, critique, praise, outline, recap and take note of the wonderful world that surrounds Waldeck's-Office Supplies For A Small Planet.
Just to be clear, times are tough and we'll be he first to admit...not all is wonderful.
That said, we will always see the cup as half full, the silver lining of the grey cloud and the opportunities created by even the most adverse situations.
Besides, we have alot to be thankful for...after 55 years in business, we're still in business and the future looks bright, in fact, wonderful!
Clifford Waldeck
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