Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 5, 2010
COS Business Products & Interiors approaching 70 years
David Laprad
If Skip Ireland, president of COS Business Products & Interiors in Chattanooga, wanted to, he could begin each work day with a pep talk modeled after the famous words Captain Kirk spoke at the beginning of each episode of the original “Star Trek” television series:
“Office space – the final frontier. These are voyages of COS Business Products & Interiors. Our mission: To explore innovative solutions, to seek out new products and clients, and to boldly go where no office supplies and furnishing business has gone before!”
Ireland would be spot on, too, as technology has brought about dramatic changes in how companies are looking at business furnishings, forcing vendors to come up with new solutions. If a business wants to be competitive in today’s market, it needs more than a great product and a skilled staff; it also needs an environment in which those people can function.
“There was a time when a lot of businesses used cookie cutter solutions. When they settled on a workstation, they just multiplied it an infinite number of times,” he says. “And there are still some applications for that, but today, technology generally drives the decision-making when it comes to making an office work.”
For example, in the days of cookie cutter operations, density was key, so companies crammed as many people as possible into a space and put up cubicles to give workers a sense of privacy. Today, employers want their staff to be able to share information, so cubicle panels are coming down and businesses are no longer isolating their various departments. “That’s where furniture design comes in,” Ireland says. “We allow that collaborative effort to operate seamlessly.”
In addition to furniture, COS sells just about everything else a business would need to get up and running, including office and technology supplies, janitorial and break room products and promotional and marketing items. “We can provide everything you’ll need from your front door to your back door,” Ireland says.
About 70 percent of COS’ sales come through its Web site, www.cosonline.com, with deliveries going out from the company’s 30,000 square foot distribution center on Riverside Drive the next day. The Riverside location also houses COS’ corporate headquarters and an 8,000 square foot showroom, which houses products ranging from ornate traditional furniture to clean, sleek, but still elegant, modern fixtures. While customers are free to buy and carry out what they need, Ireland says he prefers for a business to make COS a part of its team.
“We can work with you to customize a program based on your goals,” Ireland says. “Our core competency is space planning and budgeting. We can ensure that your office is not only aesthetically pleasing but also enables you to maximize your productivity.
“For example, smaller entrepreneurial companies don’t want to be tied down to one layout. If they hire two more people, they don’t want to have to tear everything down and start over; they want to be able to blend them in. We allow them to do that.
“Our most successful relationships are long term. We’re not the furniture vendor; we’re the guys that help you do what you want to do better. When a business has that attitude, it puts us on the front end.”
COS does not sell interior design, but rather works with interior designers in Chattanooga to create office spaces that are married to the realities of the business world. Achieving this level of efficiency requires more thought than most people realize goes into designing an office space.
“Furniture is an asset to help your people be more productive,” Ireland says. “The initial cost is only part of what the asset costs over time. A lot of businesses are getting that and basing their decisions not just on where they are today but where they want to be in five years.”
While the expertise of COS can be a tremendous help to a company, at the end of the day, the business needs to be able to afford the bill. Fortunately, Ireland has good news on that front. “Pricing is always a critical component,” Ireland says. “And independent furniture dealers like us have more options than in the past. Before, there was either good stuff or junk. Now there’s a middle market that has many outstanding products and vendors.
“For a quality office chair, you used to have to spend around $500. Now you can spend $250 and still get a great chair. The consumer has more style and pricing options than 10 years ago, partly because manufacturers are using new materials. They’re making desks and chairs out of products we didn’t even envision back then.”
This scope of options allows COS to work with a variety of businesses, from one- and two-man starts ups, to law firms and medical offices, to companies that have multiple locations across the U.S. “Chattanooga is a good mid-sized market, so we offer products and services for businesses of every size,” Ireland says.
Founded in 1941, COS started out as Chattanooga Office Supply on Cherry Street. Ireland and his brother, Jim, are third generation owners, having purchased the company from their father in 1983. In the beginning, there were just two employees, counting their grandfather, but today, COS has 45 employees handling annual sales exceeding $20 million. Ireland and his brother changed the name of the business six years ago to better communicate the breadth of services they provide.
Those are solid numbers for an independent company doing business in an arena full of heavy hitters, but with 68 years of experience providing “extraordinary solutions with exceptional service,” as the banner on the COS Web site says, it’s no surprise the company is not only still around, but also thriving in a challenging economy.
And who knows? If the Irelands keep their business in the family, their descendants might get to furnish the office of the captain of a starship.
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