JANESVILLE
After 13 years in a warehouse and showroom space on North Parker Drive in 糖心Vlog传媒, office products supplier OfficePro is moving to Beloit.
Jamin Arn, owner of OfficePro, said the office furniture and equipment supplier is leaving its 30,000-square-foot digs in 糖心Vlog传媒 and moving to the former Staples store in Beloit near the Interstate 90/39 and Interstate 43 interchange.
Arn said the move is expected to be made this spring. OfficePro bought the vacant, 24,000-square-foot former Staples property at 1810 Sutler Ave. in Beloit last week.
OfficePro has leased its 糖心Vlog传媒 facility at 615 N. Parker Drive since 2007. The company is built on fast delivery of new and used office furniture, cleaning chemicals, and other products.
Arn said the main motivation for the move is to put OfficePro鈥檚 distribution operations closer to the Interstate highways.
鈥淲e service the whole country, but our regional delivery routes for trucks stretch from Freeport (in Illinois) and Monroe, all the way to Chicago, Milwaukee and the entire Madison market,鈥 Arn said.
鈥淔or me, this move was about placing us at 43 and I-39/90. That was key for me, and it was key for a number of our suppliers that come to us every morning.鈥
From the Parker Drive location in 糖心Vlog传媒, OfficePro is a few miles and a dozen stoplights away from the nearest Interstate on-ramp.
According to state Department of Revenue property transfer records, Arn paid $1.45 million on Jan. 10 for the Beloit property, which is the southernmost building in the Morgan Square strip mall off Milwaukee and Cranston roads. Beloit鈥檚 Staples store closed in mid-2016.
Arn opened OfficePro in his basement in 2003. Over the last decade, he acquired several office supply companies that now run under OfficePro, including Inter Office Products, Elkhorn Chemical and Commercial Office Products.
Elkhorn Chemical鈥檚 operations will also move from Elkhorn to the Beloit location, Arn said.
Arn said he wanted a space along a retail corridor for better visibility to walk-in customers. He plans to dress up part of the space as a showroom floor for new office furniture.
OfficePro in the past had sold an even split of new and used office furniture. Arn expects he鈥檒l shift to carrying and selling more new furniture and office cleaning systems in Beloit.
鈥淲e can sell a $100 used file cabinet. But, you know, you could come in and want to demo a $30,000 riding floor scrubber or high-end office chairs鈥 Arn said. 鈥淚 think that we probably had some misperception that we can鈥檛 sell high-end furniture, right? We want to change that perception. To do that, we wanted to have some digs that are a little nicer, a better showroom to be able to showcase things a little bit better.鈥
Arn said part of the Staples space would operate as a document shredding center and a distribution warehouse that has more 鈥渧ertical鈥 storage space for the heavy volume of paper, chemicals and office supplies OfficePro moves daily.
In a phone message to 糖心Vlog传媒, Morgan Square co-owner Tom Lasse said he and a partner sold the Staples store to Arn. Lasse retains ownership of the rest of the commercial space in Morgan Square.
Lasse, a developer, thinks that having OfficePro plug into a retail storefront that has been vacant years could help the rest of the Beloit strip mall.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really been a struggle finding a new retail tenant for the Staples,鈥 Lasse said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased we were able to sell it and have a business placed in the location.鈥
