Journal Office Supply celebrates grand re-opening – Sterling Journal-Advocate

A longtime Sterling business now under new ownership celebrated its grand re-opening Tuesday. Journal Office Supply is now owned by Sharp Business Innovations.

Located at 117 N. Second Street, in Sterling, Journal Office Supply opened in 1941 as a print shop and office supply store. Over the years it expanded its offerings to include officer furniture, digital copiers and office supplies.

SBI, a document imaging dealership, is owned by Joshua Wickstrom and Rick Lampshire. They have locations in Longmont and Frederik and are also the owners of Great Copier Service, in Fort Morgan.

Wickstrom and Lampshire have been in the business for a long time. They used to work for Aspen Laser & Technologies, in Boulder, in the early 2000s. After working for a number of companies that “didn’t do it very well,” a leadership and ownership opportunity gave them the ability to “do it very, very well,” Wickstrom said.

“We got rid of the bad and kept the good and implemented some new strategies and some new technology and some ideas and things that he and I’ve come up with and just really developed into a customer service-based organization,” Lampshire explained.

The most important thing for them is taking care of their clients because they know that if the customer is taken care of in the right way they will come back.

They were able to grow their business “up and down the street very organic growth” but also by purchasing other businesses. After talking to the previous owner of Journal Office Supply, Jim Horner, they found that they loved the legacy the business had and jumped at the opportunity to purchase it.

“It’s just a wonderful opportunity (to add it) to the SBI family,” Wickstrom said.

They won’t be making too many changes. He said the logo and all of the people who work there will remain the same.

While they have locations in Longmont and Frederick, Lampshire said they “really have a feel for small town and it’s worked really well for us” and though they do occasionally do business in Denver “I think our heart is out here,” he said.

Along with quality customer service, family is also very important to Wickstrom and Lampshire.

“We have a lot of synergy in regards to family, the balance of work versus home. That’s the biggest thing that we always bring to the table, I understand everybody has their own life to live and everybody has sometimes challenges, so we try to be very graceful and to be empathetic and to understand that we all go through stuff,” Wickstrom said. “I think you could ask anybody in our organization that’s probably one of the biggest perks, we understand sometimes things can wait but your

family can’t always wait.”

The new owners said they are excited to be a part of the Sterling community and to give back.

“There’s so much opportunity up here and there’s a lot of wonderful people that need technology, copiers, printers and we’re just here to serve a purpose and be good stewards at the same time,” Wickstrom said.