Stocks Inc., new owner follow ‘a natural progression’
By Don Dodson, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Thirty-five years later, she owns the company, and it's a drastically different operation from when she first signed on.
Today, Stocks sells office furniture, but when the company was founded by
"What we do today involves not a single thing of what the company did originally," said Stocks' son-in-law,
Soon after joining the business, Eissfeldt saw an opportunity in office furniture, and Stocks gave him seed money to pursue that.
"Now Stocks is a
Chairs account for about 40 percent of
McGuire didn't remain a
"No one will ever outwork Maggie," Eissfeldt said, noting she handled nearly
A native of
McGuire confesses she didn't see herself moving into an ownership role until recent years. But she said she feels good about it, given her experience and the jobs she has mastered.
"It's a natural progression," she said. "I know the operation, and Skip will stay to help for a few years."
Eissfeldt said most of Stocks' business comes from within 75 miles of
When the economic downturn struck in late 2008 and 2009, the office furniture business was hit hard. Eissfeldt said the industry saw sales plummet from
"We had sold a couple big jobs at the height. But about a year later, we had the same challenges as everyone else," he said.
Each year since then has been a little better, he added.
"Last year was a record year for us," he said, citing the
"The educational markets, the financial (institution) markets and the medical markets are the ones that are the healthiest _ the ones with which we're doing the most business," he said. "Banks, insurance companies,
Eissfeldt said the office furniture industry is dominated by four major brands _
The son of a Lutheran minister, Eissfeldt was born in
He married
Stocks _ known in its early days as Champaign Blue Print and Photography _ started out with a store at
Stocks remained in downtown
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