Awards.com Buys Reliable HomeOffice

On Aug. 30, Lyndhurst, NJ-based motivational and promotional products marketer Awards.com purchased Reliable HomeOffice, a catalog of office furnishings. HomeOffice was owned by Schaumburg, IL-based Reliable Office Supplies, which itself is owned by conglomerate Boise Cacade Office Products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to Warren Struhl, chairman of Awards.com, a new holding company will be formed to incorporate Awards.com and Reliable HomeOffice. As of press time, however, a name for the company had not yet been finalized. Struhl, founder of stationery and forms cataloger Paper Direct and cofounder of multititle catalog holding company Genesis Direct (Proteam.com), will be a controlling investor of the company along with his family.

Struhl says potential synergies in the small office/home office (SOHO) market were the catalyst for the deal, since both HomeOffice and Reliable target small-business decision makers. Awards.com customers who have ordered recognition products may also be receptive to HomeOffice’s desks, chairs, and storage equipment.

“We think there’s enormous potential to cross-market these products,” Struhl says. When asked if he was concerned about the new company’s prospect of success in light of a slowing economy, Struhl contends that the downturn actually stands to boost business. “With all the layoffs occurring, people are spending more time in their home offices. I think the [SOHO] space is only going to get bigger.”

Awards.com Buys Reliable HomeOffice

Lyndhurst, NJ–On Aug. 30, motivational and promotional products marketer Awards.com purchased office furnishings catalog Reliable HomeOffice. HomeOffice was owned by Schaumburg, IL-based Reliable Office Supplies, which itself is owned by conglomerate Boise Cacade Office Products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Awards.com chairman Warren Struhl says a holding company will be formed to incorporate Awards.com and HomeOffice. Struhl, founder of stationery and forms cataloger Paper Direct and cofounder of multititle catalog holding company Genesis Direct, will be a controlling investor of the company along with his family.

Struhl says potential synergies in the small office/home office (SOHO) market spurred the deal, given that both Awards.com and HomeOffice target small-business decision makers. “We think there’s enormous potential to cross-market these products,” he says. “With all the layoffs occurring, people are spending more time in their home offices. I think the [SOHO] space is only going to get bigger.”