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This Escondido Business Owner Knows Shopping Local Helps Drive a Community
As our nation begins to reopen and find its way to a new normal, many consumers are looking more to their own communities for goods and services. For Glen Burford, VP of Business Development at Glennie’s Office Products, shopping locally has always been a priority and something he endorses.
“We promote the buy local philosophy,” said Burford, who has created a marketing page that outlines the advantages of buying local in communities, including the estimate that $68 of every $100 spent in a community stays in the community. “It helps people understand the impact.”
Local government and businesses can count on Glennie's Office Products for many of their essentials
Glennie’s Office Products - which services San Diego County and Southwestern Riverside - opened in 1967 and has stores on 5th Avenue in Escondido and Temecula.
The specialty store has a wide range of office supplies and products, including furniture, technology needs, general supplies, promotional products, storage solutions, breakroom treats, and janitorial supplies.
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, janitorial supplies have been the hot item - something Burford said has been flying off the shelves. “The regular office products are not moving right now, but all things related to sanitizer, toilet paper, paper products, and sanitizing products are,” he said, adding that janitorial/sanitation sales jumped from 15% to 65% of his business.
Although the retail business is open for walk-in customers, Glennie’s Office Products is mostly a business-to-business operation. “We are providing for doctors’ offices, government and city offices, fire departments, and water departments,” said Burford. “We do a little bit of retail, but we’ve seen a lot more walk-ins because we have products that others have had a hard time finding,” Burford said.
One of these items is hand sanitizer. Burford found a way to supply hand sanitizer while also supporting a local business owner. Burford, who is a member of the Escondido Rotary East, worked with a fellow rotarian, Debbie Young, the owner of Escondido-based Sculpt Nouveau. Young found a way to use her existing supplies to make and sell hand sanitizer.
Sculpt Nouveau specializes in patina and metal finishing products, which include chemicals that Young realized could be made into hand sanitizer. And so, using the FDA guidelines, she started creating hand sanitizers. “She made some for general rotarians,” Burford said.
Working with the Rotary, they found a way to give some of it to those in need. Kevin Bowcock, President of Escondido Rotary East, said, “Our club donated 90 bottles of hand sanitizer to Interfaith with the help of Sculpt Nouveau, who pivoted a portion of its business at a time when it is in obvious need.”
Young has also partnered with Glennie’s Office Products to provide hand sanitizer to the Escondido community. “She started whipping up batches and putting them in bottles and we started pushing them out the door,” Burford said.
One client who had an immediate need for the hand sanitizer was the Escondido Public Works Department. “While City Public Works purchases materials from local Escondido businesses whenever possible, the City was in great need of hand sanitizer in April, which was out of stock with most vendors at the time,” said Amber Tarrac, Deputy Director of Economic Development for the City of Escondido. “The City discovered a local partnership wherein Sculpt Nouveau provided chemicals to Glennie’s Office Products to mix and distribute hand sanitizer. This was a great demonstration of pivoting materials, labor, and resources in order to meet current demand. The City is grateful that we were able to purchase hand sanitizer through this partnership and remains steadfast in our commitment to continue to support local businesses.”
Meanwhile, Burford is trying to get other hard-to-find products in his stores, including face masks. “We are hoping to get 38,000 face masks. But almost half of those are gone already.”
Burford said finding these necessary products for his customers has become a mission. “We have one of our employees checking stock all the time for gloves and sanitizer and cleaning products.”
As an essential business, Glennie’s Office Products has stayed open throughout the pandemic, but like many, Burford has seen a shift in their business practices. “Right now we are seeing most of our business come from city government offices and health care businesses and organizations they work with.”
Many of these organizations continue to work with Burford because, as he said, “They understand that we provide more than just a webpage to buy from. We have product knowledge and we can out-service any of the big-box competitors, any day of the week.”
Creating a business-to-business atmosphere in the community provides other benefits as well. “The big corporations are great,” said Burford, “but they support big-name charities. The local charities are supported by local business.”
Some of the local charities Glennie’s has supported include sporting teams, schools, and one close to Burford’s heart, the Escondido Community Child Development Center. “They do great outreach and support for preschoolers and low income families in our community.”
Burford further explained, “We are neighbors, we live in town, so what happens to our community matters to us. We know people who are hurting right now, we know people who are out of jobs right now. What happens in Escondido, San Marcos, Valley Center and Temecula impacts us directly. So that’s why it’s important to support the community right now.”
For Burford, that means working through the changes and adjusting as needed. “Right now it’s adapt, overcome, meet the needs.” He acknowledges that even while he tries to adapt, it is still a struggle. “It’s not the glory days, but we are grateful that we are able to stay open and do some business. We know there are a lot of people struggling with their businesses, and our hearts go out to them.”
Fortunately Burford is seeing a shift happening. “We are seeing a lot of companies buy stuff in preparation for reopening. I see that they are getting ready.”
This is a promising sign of hope and Burford joked that someday he hopes to celebrate a new normal. “I’m going to ring a bell every time somebody buys a box of paper clips.”
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A Workspace for Today’s Entrepreneur
Months before the COVID-19 pandemic overtook the country, husband and wife team David and Natalie Williams opened LocalHub, a 12,000-square-foot coworking space located at 355 E. Grand Avenue, Escondido, CA 92025, in the heart of downtown Escondido. Its outdoor brick building is complemented by its indoor multi-level industrial chic design. Some of LocalHub’s amenities include a conference room, working spaces, flex seating, a multipurpose room for podcasting, interviews, photography, and multimedia, and even a kitchen prep area. Natalie added, “If you have a business interest, we can find a solution to meet it.”
LocalHub owners Natalie and David Williams
Coworking spaces have been popping up in cities across the nation, and even as the pandemic has forced people to temporarily stay and work at home, David and Natalie feel Escondido is ready for this type of workspace. David explained, “Natalie and I wanted to do this to really build community.”
Natalie agreed. “We really want to be a business magnet and bring more big-quality businesses here to Escondido.”
LocalHub gives small business owners, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and remote workers a space to work, conduct meetings, use shared resources, and collaborate with others. As a membership-based commitment, it helps this workforce keep a low overhead while enjoying many resources of a bigger office or corporation.
“It alleviates business owners, entrepreneurs, and remote workers from having to look for a lease or lease a long-term building or space. It's a very slow commitment, most are 30 days. It allows for month-to-month growth to expand their team. They pay memberships as they add members,” said David.
As businesses grow, individual memberships can shift into various tiers of involvement. “Our members can become mentors, partners, and thought leaders within our network, and our hope is that partnerships form, not just with LocalHub but within the LocalHub community as well,” David said.
He went on to explain some of the other advantages to co-working spaces. “It’s a great opportunity for people to have a place to work as a team, collectively as a community or individually. They work here with other people to interact with and grow their network and to even see what other people are doing and validate what they are doing themselves.”
LocalHub is one of a handful of coworking spaces along the 78 Corridor that contribute to the success of local entrepreneurs and startups, as well as the community at large.
LocalHub provides its members with desks that can be moved in various formations
As a remote worker in the tech industry, David realizes both the appeal and necessity of these creative spaces. LocalHubs industry chic look with exposed fixtures, concrete floors and pops of color furnishings, give it a welcome feel. “When you create spaces where you don’t have to work from a coffee shop or take a meeting from your home, it allows for a more professional atmosphere.” He added, “One of the biggest success factors is around the culture it creates. It’s a great place for people to have a place to work as a team, collectively, as a community or individually.”
This type of atmosphere also allows for individuals and new businesses to grow their network. Networking is something David and Natalie promote in many ways at LocalHub. “We have networking events every month,” Natalie said, adding that through the stay-at-home order, they have been working virtually for those who cannot come into the space. “We really believe true networking is based on relationships.”
LocalHub's open floor plan includes a comfortable setting for lounging, meeting, or for guests
David agreed.“We are set up on relationships. One of the first questions we ask new members is, what can they bring to the community? This gives every member a buy in to the community. That is one of our core principles.” .
New businesses in Escondido that have already become members at LocalHub include:
LocalHub has been able to remain open during the pandemic because it is considered an essential business. Like other essential businesses that are open, the coworking space is following current COVID-19 guidelines. “We are in contact with the Mayor’s office, and we have set up restrictions so that we can adhere to those and the new guidelines,” Natalie said.
This includes having limited numbers of members in the space at one time, keeping six foot separation, and cleaning all products after use. “Everybody is more than happy to adhere to these rules, because they want to come in to work.”
For members who prefer to stay at home during this time, David and Natalie have set up a virtual office membership. These members will have access to LocalHub’s mailing service, community events, and web conferencing accounts for meetings. “Many people have been working from home right now so that has been our focus and has kept us busy,” David said.
The WFH order bodes well with how the Williamses plan to expand their business. While they plan to open multiple locations, the virtual trial is setting a precedent for virtual expansion. “Our physical memberships could grow to 240 here at our Escondido location. We are also creating a virtual community on top of our physical location; I think with the capacity of the space, and a large community, it would really drive value for all our members and our city,” said David, who believes a virtual community could span a larger geographic area and could increase membership substantially.
Meanwhile, Natalie is hopeful that once the stay-at-home orders begin to ease more, people will be eager to come back to creative environments like LocalHub. “There are going to be people who need a new space to have a meeting, make calls and work without the noise of their homes.”
The couple also sees Escondido as a prime location for new businesses. “I think Escondido is ripe for innovation,” said David. “It’s ready for this community boost that we are going to bring.”
The Williamses live and work in Escondido and are big supporters of the community. “I think we are in a city that is growing and developing into something new and special,” said David. “It’s a big community vibe that is walkable and full of family events. Businesses encourage this and invite people to hang out and experience the city.”
Natalie agreed and believes LocalHub will blend in well with Escondido’s business environment while helping to encourage new businesses to reap these benefits as well. “For Escondido to thrive, we need strong businesses here, we need young entrepreneurs who just want to give back. The more high caliber we bring in, the more it’s going to impact our city.”
Updates on LocalHub can be found on Instagram and Facebook.
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