A husband and wife team initially emphasized books and library supplies with their Cogan Station business, but in the upcoming year, a new change will take place.
Janice and Wayne Stebbins, whose names inspired the company name JanWay, 11 Academy Road, began the company in 1981. When libraries began to increase self-promotion and fund-raising efforts, the Stebbins revamped the company to target that audience with competitive prices.
Now Gary, Janice and Wayne's son, and Pam, Gary's wife, Stebbins, the second generation of owners, are changing the focus again to include promotional items for businesses.
"The library budget cuts are why we decided to go into the business section," Gary said. "We still service the library market, but we put more emphasis on the business. We will do libraries and businesses."
When Gary came into the business, he took over the sales calls from his father, who did more consulting, while his mother ran the company.
In November, Janice and Wayne announced the transition of their retirement.
One of the reasons for the success of the business comes from good relationships, with both the customers and the manufacturers.
"We negotiate all of the time," Gary said. "Lower quantities and lower prices. ... We order 25 (items) rather than 50 and 100. We established good relationships and give them good volume and pay on time, then we turn around and give that back to the customers."
The reason for the inclusion of businesses for JanWay is because of the funding cuts in the library market.
"It's an institution we feel is beneficial, but there's little political ramifications," Gary said. "In times of recession, the use of the library goes up, but the funding goes down, so we're expanding into some new markets. We're modifying the website to make it more business friendly."
Gary said the website already has gathered interest and sales from businesses.
Some of the most popular items for sale work for both businesses and libraries, Gary said.
Recently popular items are keychains, magnetic business cards with hours on them, and flash drives.
"We get requests all of the time," Gary said. "That's just the tip of the iceberg."
With a database search, they can search through thousands of supplies with a variety of criteria.
"You could find a 10 cent coffee mug," he said. "It'll give you a lot of suppliers and you can search by the best price. We use that program to get customers the best price."
Pam said they have a woman in the quote department that looks for the best prices and products.
"She knows how to weed things to get the best possible product for the customers," Pam said. "She has been working with us for over 10 years. More than half of our employees have worked for us more than 10 years."
One feature that customers appreciate is the price match, Gary said.
"If a potential customer mentions a competitive website, if they tell us what the price is, we will match or beat the competition's price. We typically don't have to do that. Our quote is the lower price anyway."
Being in business for 30 years also helps with prices since the company knows which suppliers provide the best service.
