Sto:lo move to claim economic development niche

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Sto:lo Office Outfitters celebrated an opening Oct. 22 as a brand new business, reincarnating itself from the former Sto:lo Office Supplies, which began nearly four years ago.

Bigger and better means that the new Aboriginal-owned-and-operated wholesaler sells office furniture in addition to standard paper, pencils and staplers.

Another change, according to manager Danny Chase, is that whereas the office supplies company "was established primarily to service the Sto:lo territory and the First Nations groups within the Sto:lo territory," the new business services all the First Nations in the Western provinces and is looking beyond.

In addition, they sell to all federal government departments coast-to-coast, he said. Currently 15 per cent of their business is done outside British Columbia.

The original business was a losing operation, Chase said. He took over as manager in March 2000 and about six months later, after surveying customer needs and dealing with complaints, Sto:lo Office Outfitters went full speed ahead with its office furniture line.

Chase graduated in 1997 with a business degree from Trinity Western University in Langley. He formerly was involved in the economic development advisory board for his own band, Kwanlin Dun First Nation in Yukon.

Chase says Sto:lo Office Outfitters has six employees now. When he took over a year ago, there was just one other employee.

"We've completely restructured our service commitment. We're a very hands-on company in working with our clients, especially now we've started to concentrate our efforts on the office furniture area," said Chase.

Chase says Sto:lo Office Outfitters has cut out the middle man. They order stock as needed directly from two international manufacturers, rather than carrying a big inventory.

With three new sales staff, he added, "we're going quite aggressively at the Western Canadian market for the First Nations. My expectations are huge in establishing our business within the First Nations and opening physical offices in each of the different provinces up to Ontario."

In about six months, Chase said he will look at hiring sales representatives in the regions "as step one of our growth plan."

Chilliwack will remain their head office.

Aboriginal Business Canada (ABC) has supported the expanded operation.

Chase said ABC was excited about the Sto:lo business plan because "There is no other operation like ours in Western Canada."

He added the funding they got from ABC is "majority forgivable, but we did have to come up with our own funds to pay the balance (of the business expansion)."

The company also took a business loan from Tale'awbxw Aboriginal Capital Corporation.

The expansion portion of the business that took place in the past few weeks has cost about $150,000, Chase said.

Long-term plans include manufacturing their own line of office furniture and providing design services.

The company projects sales of $2 million this year.