Offices Unlimited -- business supplies from A to Z

Business Today

Sally LeGrand was self-employed once before -- that was when she sold Tupperware out of her home in Kelso, Mo., in the late 1980s.

Last October, she opened Offices Unlimited in Heritage Square in Cape Girardeau. With access to more than 25,000 business-related items, LeGrand furnishes area schools, churches, hospitals, manufacturers and retailers with everything from pens and paper to office desks, filing cabinets, chairs and outside shelters for employees who smoke.

The office supply business is nothing new for LeGrand. Twelve years ago she answered a blind box ad in the Southeast Missourian. A Cape-based office supplies store hired her for customer support and to cultivate new business.

"There was always furniture being sold and that interested me because of the design aspect," she said. "The company was diversifying and I became involved in office furniture." LeGrand spent seven years selling and continuing to learn about office ergonomics, systems furniture, computer-aided design and office layout.

After the company changed ownership, LeGrand joined Manpower Temporary Services in Cape Girardeau and managed the Sikeston branch office for about a year.

The following year she was hired to manage an office furniture and business machines company in Cape. While there she specified, designed and supervised projects at Procter & Gamble, the Sikeston Higher Education Center, the courthouse in Charleston and Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital.

"Through the years I'd entertained thoughts of running my own office furniture and supplies business," said LeGrand, sitting behind a large, modular desk in her office. "So last year I decided the opportunity was right." Offices Unlimited is locally owned and operated.

Todd Field and Dawn Bland joined her in the venture. Field does computer-aided design, coordinates projects, installs furniture and handles delivery. Bland is a sales consultant and handles customer service, accounting and billing.

The service area of Offices Unlimited is Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Stick-on notes, overhead projectors, coin sorters, safety equipment, cameras, TVs, conference furniture and breakroom supplies are available.

The business is the authorized Nova dealer for the area. LeGrand said Nova is a manufacturer that integrates work surface, computer area and ergonomics. It allows the computer monitor to be recessed partially or fully below the work surface of the desk.

"That way the person's area is not dedicated to the computer," said LeGrand. "When you're not using your computer you still have the work surface. It also addresses important ergonomic issues with eye and neck strain."

The business' main line of seating is Reimers. "I sat in a lot of chairs before I decided which brand we would carry and promote," she said.

Offices Unlimited's panel system is xXtreme. Manufactured in Grand Rapids, Mich., it is a stackable off-modular system.

"That means you can mix and match various sizes of work surfaces and overhead storage units and shelves without having to match the width of the frame," said LeGrand.

Offices Unlimited furnished the huge warehouse Procter & Gamble recently built, according to LeGrand. Items included office furniture, fax machines, conference room and breakroom furnishings. Also, signage, wheel chocks for trucks, employee lockers and an outside smoking shelter.

LeGrand said her business pulls from a large wholesaler with warehouses in St. Louis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Most items stocked can be delivered next day. For walk-in business, Offices Unlimited has basic items in stock.