Our Journey

S.P. Richards acquired by Central National Gottesman Inc.

S.P. Richards HQ moved to new office building in Wildwood area of greater Atlanta, GA

S.P. Richards acquired Garland C. Norris and Impact Products

S.P. Richards launched Business Source^® product line

S.P. Richards acquired regional wholesalers O’Henry (no, not the candy bar), PPI & Action Wholesale

S.P. Richards acquired Norwestra, which then became SPR Canada.

S.P. Richards opened warehouse distribution centers in more than 10 new cities

S.P. Richards now has delivery networks spanning the west to east coast

S.P. Richards acquired by Genuine Parts Company

SP Richards started offering state of the art copy machines, the once infamous household name, Xerox

Rolodex contact organizer became a staple on office desks around the U.S.

S.P. Richards started offering Swingline staplers as they become an industry standard for stapler design and dependability.

Pink Pearl erasers reach American markets from their German origin. Eraser heads were not added to pencils until 1975.

Richards brothers sell company to Rhodes Family

S.P. Richards Wholesale Paper Division was launched

The Great Atlanta Fire destroyed 1,938 buildings that spanned 72 city blocks, nearly missing the S.P. Richards warehouse.

S.P. Richards truck delivered office supplies and paper to the greater Atlanta area.

S.P. Richards starts offering Royal Typewriters in their line of office products

Check written to a Mr. Burbank from George Richards in the amount of $6.50, equivalent in today’s economy to $230.75

Samuel Richard’s sons, Walter, George & Russell, take over the business

Crayola is founded and starts selling first crayons to distributors like S.P. Richards

Downtown Atlanta. Samuel Richards buys out his brother, Jabez, to become primary owner of S.P. Richards.

Paper clips are a HOT NEW ITEM to help offices keep documents more organized.

J.J. and S.P. Richards reopen store after Civil War

J.J. and S.P. Richards – Books, Music & Fancy Store Jabez and Samuel Richards go into partnership and open first store in Macon, GA