COVID, and the dramatic change in the post-pandemic workplace that followed, did more than just change the office furniture game. It nearly toppled an entire industry sector.
Many companies — both big-box chains and mom-and-pop office retailers — have gone out of business in recent years, unable to adjust.
That hasn’t been the case with Maco Office Source, the second-generation family-owned business in Union City.
The company, founded in 1952, did what it has done through more recessions and fashion changes than it can count: Adjust to the latest needs of the industry — and serve the customer like no one else.
That’s the secret of success, according to Ricky and Sharon Reissman, who have been spouses and business partners since 1986.
“What is extraordinary about our company is that we have survived,” Sharon Reissman said. “We have survived recessions. We have survived an onslaught of big-box retailers. We even survived COVID.”
The reason is simple, Sharon Reissman said.
“We sell quality products, and we offer highly competitive prices — but I think what really sets us apart is our outstanding customer service,” she said. “We will do anything for our clients. That’s why they keep coming back.”
That concept certainly was put to the test during the pandemic.
When the office shutdown went from a few weeks to a few months, with no end in sight, the Reissmans said they knew they needed to quickly pivot their model.
“We became a plexiglass divider supplier,” Sharon Reissman said. “We became a mask and a Clorox supplier.”
It’s all about serving the customer and the market.
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Ricky Reissman, now 70, remembers his early days in the business, when he was working for his father, one of the company’s three founders.
Like any young kid, he didn’t understand the lessons his father was teaching him. He didn’t understand why he should drive 10 miles just to bring someone eight notepads for a meeting the next day.
“I was 22,” he recalled. “I would say, ‘Dad, this is a waste of time — driving all over town for a $4 sale.’”
Father knew best, Ricky Reissman now knows.
“My dad said, ‘Wait, one day they’ll need to order office furniture — then they’ll need new chairs and a table for their conference room,’” he recalled him saying.
His father was not only playing the long game, he also was playing the customer-service game.
That loyalty remains in place today, Sharon Reissman said.
“When we started, if customers were looking for office supplies or office furniture, they went to the local dealer,” she said. “They didn’t go to the highway, they went to Kennedy Boulevard. They didn’t go to the internet, that didn’t exist yet. They went to people they knew.
“We are enormously proud of the fact that the majority of our business is with clients that have been with us for more than 50 years.”
That was never so clear as when Staples came to Union City, around the turn of the century.
“I think they thought they would drive us out of business,” Sharon Reissman said. “They didn’t understand the loyalty we had built up through years of customer service.”
That Staples eventually closed.
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In some ways, Ricky Reissman hasn’t changed a bit in his 50 years of doing business.
He may be 70, but he still works like a man half his age.
“I call on six accounts a day without an appointment,” he said. “I leave my house at 5:15 in the morning, and don’t return until 7 p.m. I still see everyone in person. It makes a difference. You’d be amazed at how many times someone will say, ‘We were just talking about this or that, how can you help us?’”
The company still does a great percentage of its business selling to municipalities and school systems, but it has increased its reach and updated its offerings.
Maco does custom interior design, too. That’s why it opened Maco Interior Solutions.
Ricky and Sharon Reissman proudly show off the $90,000 conference table they did for a client in New York City. The table represents what the company always has been about: Quality.
“I have a saying: Your furniture speaks before you do,” Sharon Reissman said. “When a client walks into your office — whether you’re municipal worker, a doctor, an attorney or a banker — the minute they walk through your door, they decide if they’re in the right place.
“Sometimes it has nothing to do with the services. It’s just: Are they comfortable in the environment that you offer them? That’s what we’ve been offering our clients for decades.”
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The Reissmans are proud that they have fended off the competition, the economy — even COVID.
They know, however, they face one opponent they cannot beat: Father time.
While they still both love working — that was evident as they worked the floor at the recent League of Municipalities event in Atlantic City — they know they can’t do this forever.
They are immensely proud of their two sons — both of whom have successful careers, neither of which has an interest in the family business.
The company, they say, has a loyal following — and a book of business that brings in revenue “North of $5 million” annually.
They are not sure when it will be time to move on — Sharon Reissman is just 64 and filled with energy — but when they make their final pivot, they know it will be the ultimate sale.
Conversation Starter
Reach Maco Office Source at: macooffice.com or call 201-867-3309.
