Since its foundation in 1966, Humphreys has always been a reseller of office products, looking after both retail and commercial trade within the Manly and northern beaches area.
In the late 1990s, founder John Humphrey decided to take the product to the customers and started up Humphreys Direct to build on the office supplies component of the business.
Extending the retail arm to a business-to-business delivery service has seen Humphreys go from strength-to-strength in its office supplies product.
The huge Humphreys newsagency on Manly's famous Corso is still a family-run business under the management of Humphrey's three sons, including Roger who has assumed the chairman's role with John having less day-to-day involvement.
However, John Humphrey told Stationery News, that the Corso newsagency is feeling the effects of a tough retail climate with customer traffic down around 20 per cent on previous years.
"The families are just not coming like they used to," he said.
The number of tourists visiting the area have also dropped off, according to Humphrey, who has been a landmark retailer at Manly for 45 years.
Having sold the Corso premises in 2006, Humphrey decided to move the Humphreys Direct team and warehouse to Balgowlah where another retail outlet was opened. This outlet is solely dedicated to servicing the office supplies customers.
The Balgowlah outlet has developed a unique position in the area with a dynamic street front presence that caters to the local school community with a wide range of children's books, toys, games and stationery items.
Humphreys Office Supplies manager Richard Harvey said the Balgowlah outlet was now selling around $2000 worth of stationery a day and around $1600 worth of children's books.
Unlike many office products dealers that shun back-to-school accounts – primarily because of the labour-intensive nature of the pick-and-pack task and thin margins – Humphreys is actively developing its already substantial BTS business through an association with online ordering group Flexischools.
Humphrey said the company is also looking at acquiring a business – not in the office products sector – but one that incorporates a complementary database.
