30 OCTOBER 10, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
GLENDALE & RIDGEWOOD: OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
After 75 years of business, Ridgewood Offi ce
Products is ready to adapt to age of e-commerce
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Ridgewood Offi ce Products, a local
stationery and furniture store that
survived from the era of the letterpress
to the big box retailers in the
90s, is about to enter into its 75th year
of business in 2020.
But while the explosion of e-commerce
in recent years has created
an obstacle that has been putting
mom and pop businesses across the
country out of business, the shop’s
owner claims with confi dence he’s not
worried. His shop, Ridgewood’s offi ce
supplier since 1964, is more economical
than Amazon, he says.
“If Amazon is shipping these boxes
in boxes to their facility, that’s great,
but obviously someone has to receive
the product, open it up, and then assemble
it on their end. So when you
add all of these factors in, is it more
economical to let us do it where we’re
going to bring it assembled,” said coowner
Michael Addeo. “It’s a troublefree
sale and there’s no headaches.”
Addeo’s father started the precursor
to what is now the offi ce store as
a printing shop in Williamsburg in
1945. In 1964, he moved to Ridgewood
in order to merge printing press with
a stationery business.
Addeo got involved when he was
about 16 years old in 1976. Two years
he later went full-time. And fi ve years
aft er that in 1983, Addeo, his father
and his brother Craig expanded
the business to an offi ce furniture
showroom.
In the 90s, the company started
developing interior design and space
planning services. Shortly thereafter,
when the era of the big box offi ce
stores came to fruition, Addeo made
another shift . He downsized the shop
more into one building and focused
more on its commercial business,
which centered on designing and
supplying the furniture for entire
offi ces.
Addeo says the retail establishment
is still an important presence
Photo via Google Maps
on Fresh Pond Road. The brick-andmortar
location has been able to
focus on art supplies, which have
become a popular part of its inventory,
especially with newcomers to
the neighborhood.
“You do have people that want to
touch the product, they want to see
it and want to feel it. They just don’t
want to have that cold feeling of like
ordering it and then maybe they get
it in if the wrong item or their expectations
are just not the same,” Addeo
said.
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