S & B Office Supplies and Furnishings
CBE has again continued its expansion by acquiring a piedmont area copier and printer service base. S&B Office Supplies and Furnishings originally took over management of the base from Blake and Ford -a dealer in the area- and early on realized that to really take care of those clients it was best to allow an established organization with proven experience to take over that aspect of the enterprise. “We have been aware of CBE and what they bring to market. They have demonstrated a real commitment to the office technology space and Bennie and I were thrilled to have worked things out with CBE” Stacy says.
Stacy continues, “We had hoped to be able to provide the full array of business solutions to our new clients, but considering the complexity of this type of service and the need for continuing training, etc., the offer that John made was the key factor for us moving forward with this venture “.
I was pleased that we were able to come to terms on the acquisition between CBE and S&B Office Supplies and Furnishings”, says John Eckstrom, President of CBE. For nearly 45 years CBE has been a supplier to much of the state of South Carolina for copier and print solutions. In the past 10 years, we have focused more heavily in the networking and computer support space. Eckstrom goes on to mention that “it has become so obvious to CBE’s management team that without a real focus on infrastructure and technology that their relevance would become a thing of the past. We have seen many dealers who did not have that proper refocus and experienced negative growth.
From the copier and printer perspective CBE is a dealership who carries full line gear for Sharp, Toshiba and Oki Data. CBE also serves as a factory service training facility, offering fellow dealerships an opportunity to receive factory certified training at its corporate headquarters in Columbia, SC.
From an IT perspective CBE is a full-on infrastructure company. With 10 people dedicated to their IT division they provide the full array of services as it relates to network support. They boast some high-profile clients around the state and country. In fact, they are an IT company for other copier companies. CBE’s approach is simple… there are no such things as problems, only challenges and opportunity!
While CBE has a significant base in Camden, SC they are proud of the new relationships that they will be developing in that region. CBE is headquartered in Columbia, SC and have additional offices in Florence, SC and Charleston, SC.