*NEWS*INKSTOP.COM OPERATES 109 STORES

[Anonymous]

ink chain adds outlets
Detroit
MI/LIVONIA — InkStop plans to keep growing in the Detroit area this
year, adding five new locations to the 17 already open.
The
Ohio-based chain fills a niche for people who need ink and toner for
printers but don’t want to traverse to a superstore, said George
Seitzinger, vice president of marketing for InkStop.”Consumables is
typically a frustrating purchase for most consumers,” Seitzinger said.
“There are hundreds of different ink cartridges, and most people come
in with an old ink cartridge and say ‘I need one of these.'”Retailers
in the United States sold $3.2 billion worth of ink jet cartridges and
$1.3 billion worth of laser toner between January and November of last
year, according to the NPD Group.

The company’s cofounders came
from the office superstore arena and saw a need for smaller stores, so
the typical InkStop averages about 1,100 square feet with four to five
employees and can be found in strip centers with nearby parking,
Seitzinger said.”We wanted to create a retail outlet that is convenient
with people who know what they are talking about,” Seitzinger said.The
first InkStop, opened January 2006 in suburban Cleveland, didn’t carry
printers or cameras, but customer demand compelled the company to add
those items along with memory cards, flash drives, routers, navigation
devices, MP3 players and accessories, he said.The chain operates 109
stores nationally, with plans to increase that number to more than 120
by the end of January. An additional 125 stores are planned by January
2009, including the five set for Southeast Michigan.InkStop has no
plans to franchise, because it wants the consistency of corporate
ownership, Seitzinger said.”Nationally, our goal is to be 400-500 in
the next three to five years,” Seitzinger said.The chain works well in
a shopping plaza environment, according to J. Miles McFee, a vice
president at Schostak Brothers & Co., a Livonia-based commercial
real estate firm that added InkStop to its Wonderland Village
development in Livonia.”They are perfect for strip retail,” McFee said.
“There’s a niche in retail for that kind of store with people trying to
keep costs down in terms of refills.”Opening 17 stores in the Detroit
area also could convince other retailers to re-examine Southeast
Michigan.”It’s a positive thing to see a company invest in the Detroit
market given the state of the economy,” McFee said.InkStop will monitor
Michigan store performance before deciding on further expansion,
Seitzinger said.”As a start-up, we get to learn as we go along,” he
said. “We’re not sure how many Detroit can hold. How close can you put
them and still have them work?”

[Author]

January 17, 2008 at 11:40 AM