Machabee Office Environment flourishes through changing times

As the nation emerged from the Great Depression and World War II raged abroad, Delbert Machabee and Frank Morrill opened a small office supplies and stationery store in downtown Reno in 1940.

Seventy-five years later, the company is known as Machabee Office Environments, headquartered at 6435 Sunset Corporate Drive, and Delbert Machabee’s grandson, Scott Machabee, runs the operation as company president.

Things have changed dramatically over 75 years. The original Reno store’s phone number was simply 7676. Multifunction computer and printing systems have become popular and can do many of the things you’d order at office supply stores. Big-box stores and chains have invaded.

But Scott Machabee continues the tradition his family began and talked about today’s corporate office.

Question: When and how did you first get interested in the business?

Answer: I worked in the business every summer and as soon as I could drive, I was working every day I could because I wanted to earn money. I never really thought of it much as something I’d want to do the rest of my life until about two years into college and I thought, “I like this,” so I changed my major to marketing and never looked back. When I graduated, I had the opportunity to work for Steelcase in Grand Rapids, Mich., always with the intent to come back to Nevada. Working there gave me a master’s degree in office furniture. Today, Steelcase is our strategic partner.

Question: What trends are you seeing in the business?

Answer: Today, people don’t need as big a work station as they once had. In fact, some are finding that they don’t need an office at all. That’s having a big impact on our industry, a smaller footprint per person. You used to see these big corner-unit work stations with a (computer monitor). Now you can work with a flat-panel or an iPad.

Question: To what do you attribute the success of your company being 75 years in the business?

Answer: You always have to look for the next thing and embrace changes instead of putting your head in the sand. A lot of the independent office supply companies that didn’t want to go the direction we ended up going aren’t around anymore.

Question: How do you compete with the Office Depots, Office Maxes and Staples of the world?

Answer: We really go after a different market and it all kind of started with the advent of the computer. Pretty soon computers were doing many of the things we would offer as services. So we were selling office supplies and furniture and soon, the big box retailers began coming in.

At the same time we divested ourselves of what little office supply business we had and focused on furniture. It’s an evolving thing. We always look at how we can expand the business.

We were just office furniture from 1988 to the late ‘90s and then we got into the K-12 furniture business and we’ve been in that ever since. We do a lot of business with the Clark County School District.

Question: Describe the perfect business environment.

Answer: It’s different for every company. It has to be a place for people to be creative. It has to have an environment that supports what they’re trying to do. Some companies and departments within companies are very collaborative so they need open space and meeting space and places for people to park and talk together. Other companies need more quiet space and dedicated space, less distractions — not that they’re not having collaboration.

Question: What’s your take on some of the open-office concepts some progressive companies are using?

Answer: It’s not for everybody. It all depends on what kind of work is going on in that space. But a big part of what we do is make recommendations to companies about space, furnishing and equipment that complements the work. When we’re engaging with customers, we’re trying to get a feel for their culture, how they work, how their departments interact and what they need.

Question: Is there still a need for the cubicle environment?

Answer: Absolutely. There are a lot of companies that still use work stations because it works for them. And when I talk about work stations and open offices and private offices, every company usually has some sort of mix of all three of them.

Question: Is the workplace still evolving?

Answer: I think it is. People still need a place to go to work. Corporate America tried to work remotely. “Great! We don’t need office space at all. Everybody can work from home, it’ll be wonderful.” Yes, you save some money for real estate. But there were other costs in how the employees interacted with each other, how they got done what they needed to get done. They’re getting back to there being power in the place.

Question: Any new office innovations on the horizon?

Answer: Steelcase has a new product called Thread. It’s a power distribution system that’s designed to go under carpet tiles. It’s three-sixteenths of an inch thick, so its (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. It’s a flat conduit so the electrical wires basically lay flat within it and a rubber ramp up to it. So when it goes under the carpet, you can’t even see it. It’s a way to distribute power from the wall to the middle of a room. There’s a lot of cost to coring a concrete floor, but Thread will cut the cost dramatically.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find @RickVelotta on Twitter.