MILESTONE |
A TRIBUTE TO OUR LONG-LASTING ENTERPRISES
S I X T Y- F I V E Y E A R S Y O U N G Young Office celebrates 65 years of creating workspace magic WORDS BY MELODY WRIGHT PHOTOS BY WILL CROOKS
Thomas R. Young III, CEO, and Thomas R. Young IV, president, of Young Office
When the family-owned Young Office first began offering its commercial office supply services in 1953, the term “creative workplace” hadn’t been coined yet. Now as Young Office celebrates 65 years as a commercial interiors company with showrooms in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Asheville, N.C., it has become a leader in designing progressive and functional workspaces in the technology-driven 21st century.
THE FAMILY BUSINESS
The company has stayed in the family all 65 years — in fact, for four generations now with its current president, Thomas R. Young IV. Great-grandfather Thomas R. Young Sr. bought the Calhoun Office Supply of Spartanburg in 1953, later changing the name to Young Office Supply. After serving in the Korean War, the next generation, Thomas R. Young Jr., joined Young Office. The current CEO, Thomas R. Young III, joined the company after graduating from The Citadel in 1974. Thomas R. Young IV also joined Young Office after his Citadel graduation in 2002.
Young Office offered a variety of services to meet the needs of their clients at the time, primarily commercial office supplies. In its early days, Young Office was also a large Frigidaire company that taught people how to use modern technology of the ’50s — electric ice makers and stoves.
a real-life office, classroom, or hospital, this means ingraining the technology into the walls and furniture. Young Office’s new showroom in Greenville, which opened this year, displays the many possibilities for a variety of workspaces.
THE NEXT STEP
For Young Office, success is measured by happy customers and a wide selection of products for its diverse client base. “Whether it’s a startup company or a Fortune 500 company, a small doctor’s office or health care system, a home office or a university, we really have selections that work in all of those areas,” Young says. The ability to evolve with current trends in design and technology is a key aspect of what makes Young Office successful. Alita Webster, director of sales, says that Young Office’s services five years ago are totally different from today’s due to ever-changing technology. “So, we’re seeing products being embedded into furniture because it helps with that collaborative dialogue, and then also it’s got to be flexible because it’s going to be changing,”
Now, Young Office takes pride in partnering with Steelcase, the largest commercial office furniture manufacturer in the world. Since it became a Steelcase dealer in the early ’70s, Young Office has received the Steelcase Premier Partner award since 2013, which is given to the best-performing dealers. “It’s a team effort, and it’s a measurement across the company from quality controls, sustainability, community impact, customer experience, financial stability — everything,” Thomas R. Young IV says. “It’s a good way to run your business; it’s not an easy thing to do.” To take furniture to the next level, Steelcase partnered with Microsoft to co-create places and devices that drive creativity in the workplace. In
THE FLEXIBLE SERVICE
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UBJ | 6.15.2018