Office supplies firm keeps it in the family

A Shropshire firm is keeping it in the family when it comes to ensuring deliveries can be made safely to customers during the current restrictions.

Chrisbeon Office Supplies partner Richard Hughes swapped his home office for the delivery van as he joined son Tom to ensure customers can have items delivered during the pandemic.

The father and son team live in the same household and, when the Government advised it was safe to do so, were the ideal pairing as delivery drivers to keep the business operational and meet the demand from homeworkers looking to have furniture and supplies delivered to them.

The firm’s showrooms in Shrewsbury and Telford have been closed since March with staff working remotely to help customers meet their office and stationery needs.

Richard said: “Lockdown has meant finding different ways of working for everyone and we have now been able to find a solution that means we can continue to meet the high demand for our services.

“We are one of the lucky businesses that has been able to keep going, answering enquiries and now delivering our products to those still operating and, significantly, to people who have had to turn home space into an office environment to meet the challenges of working from home.

“Tom and I are able to work together as we are from the same family and live in the same household so it made perfect sense for us to take on the deliveries aspect of the business.

“It meant Chrisbeon could start to deliver while keeping to the social distancing rules in homes and keeping to restrictions by only having two members of the same family in a van. We are also observing strict measures in terms of how clients take delivery of our supplies in order that everyone stays safe during the delivery process.

“Orders have been coming in for new equipment and furniture and we have also seen high demand for items in our pre-loved range as people look to replace temporary home-working stations with desks and chairs. While it’s not clear how long social distancing measures will be in place - and that may well be for some time yet - it’s nice to know that we can continue to meet the needs of our customers safely.”