W.B. Mason

W.B. Mason
Private
Industry Workplace Products
Founded 1898
Founder William Betts Mason
Headquarters Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Area served
 United States
Key people
 Steve Greene, Chairman
Leo J. Meehan, III, President and CEO [1]
John Greene, President Office Products Division
Christopher Meehan, COO
Revenue $1.455 billion [2]
Number of employees
 3,435
Divisions WhattaBargain! Outlet Stores[3]
W.B. Mason Interiors[4]
Website www.wbmason.com

W.B. Mason is an office products retailer in the US. The largest privately held office products retailer in the country, it competes with Staples, OfficeMax, and Office Depot. The company is based in Brockton, Massachusetts, and primarily serves New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Mid-West. It has over 60 distribution centers across the United States. The company has 3,435 employees,[2] 1160 sales representatives, over 750 delivery trucks (leased from Ryder),[2] and over 230,000 customers.[5][6] W.B. Mason is the largest customer of Essendant.[7][8]

History

W.B. Mason Building
Brockton, Massachusetts
(September 2011)
Image of the W.B. Mason original building, from the National Archives.

W.B. Mason was founded in 1898 by William Betts Mason in Brockton, Massachusetts, where its headquarters is still located.

William Betts Mason was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1865. Upon his father's death in 1872, he immigrated to the United States with his American-born mother and two sisters where they settled in his mother's home town of Brockton, Massachusetts. In the 1880s he began working in the printing and sign making trade and eventually became a master engraver.[9]

In 1898, Mason founded W.B. Mason, a business that sold printing, engraved products and rubber stamps. As Brockton prospered with the growth of the shoe industry in the early 20th century, W.B. Mason added office supplies to the company's sales offering. Mason died in 1912.

W.B. Mason continued as a family-operated business until 1943, when it was sold to a Brockton businessman, Samuel Kovner, who as a boy swept the W.B. Mason floors and worked his way up through the ranks.

Under Kovner, the company reached sales of $243,000 by 1963 at which time it was sold to Kovner's daughter and son-in-law, Helen and Joseph Greene. Greene added furniture sales to the company's selection and the W.B. Mason Company reached nearly a million dollars in sales upon his death in 1973. After his death, Helen Greene moved her son Steven Greene into the leadership position of the company, and under his leadership the company grew to $20 million in sales by 1993.

The ownership changed hands in 1983, when Steven Greene and his brother John Greene took over the business from their mother and invited their two top sales people, Thomas Golden and Leo Meehan, to join the ownership group.

Greene remained President until 1993, when he became Chairman, replacing his mother Helen. Leo Meehan became the President and CEO as the company launched a new office supply initiative based on free, fast, and complete next-day delivery on company-owned trucks. W.B. Mason grew twelve-fold in the next eight years achieving sales of $247 million by 2001. The next ten years saw the company grow four-fold again and reach a billion dollars in sales in 2011.

In November 2013, Lyreco teamed up with W.B. Mason for a world-wide distribution partnership.[10]

Selection

W.B. Mason’s selection of products includes office supplies, paper, ink and toner, furniture, break room, office coffee, water, facilities maintenance, technology, foodservice supplies, and custom print and promotional items.

Advertising

W.B. Mason Flag Logo: The flag on the right has 50 stars but the one on the left shows only 45 stars, the July 4, 1896 configuration.

The company began advertising in earnest in 1986. At that time, the slogan "Who But W.B. Mason" was introduced, which came from the advertising firm T.J. Clark and was created by one of the partners named Paul Steven Stone. The slogan was combined with a picture of the founder W.B. Mason, a handsome mustachioed gentleman from the 1890s. Their logo features two U.S. flags flanking a portrait of W.B. Mason. The flag on the right has 50 stars but the one on the left shows only 45 stars, the configuration as of the company's founding in 1898.

Baseball

W.B. Mason is the "Official Office Products Supplier" to the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals and Cleveland Indians. They sponsor W.B. Mason's Extra Innings: the post-game show after Red Sox games on NESN, W.B. Mason Post Game Live: the Mets post-game show on SNY, The W.B. Mason Post Game Show: the Yankees post-game show on YES, Pirates Pregame presented by W.B. Mason: the Pirates' pregame show on Root, Nat's Xtra Post Game Presented by W.B. Mason on MASN, and W.B. Mason Behind the Pinstripes, part of the Philadelphia Phillies Big Sunday show on CSNP. W.B. Mason also has its corporate logo prominently displayed in those seven team's home ballparks: Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Yankee Stadium and Citi Field in New York, the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and Progressive Field in Cleveland and Nationals Park in Washington. W.B. Mason also has sponsorships with Madison Square Garden in New York City, The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut.

Along with these sponsorships, W.B. Mason assisted with funding a new sports complex at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, W.B. Mason Stadium. The special relationship with Stonehill is due in large part to W.B. Mason's CEO, Leo Meehan, being an alumnus. A number of W.B. Mason television commercials have used the college as a filming location.

Locations

W.B. Mason has a workforce of over 3,435 people, spread over 60 locations throughout the USA.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Profile: Leo J. Meehan, III ’75", Board of Trustees, Stonehill College website
  2. 1 2 3 "W.B. Mason Company Expands Fleet and Strengthens 30-Year Partnership With Ryder", Ryder press release, Miami, Florida, July 21, 2010
  3. ↑ "W.B. Mason's WhattaBargain Outlet Stores". Wbswhattabargain.com. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  4. ↑ "W.B. Mason Interiors". W.B. Mason Interiors. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  5. ↑ "Profile: W.B. Mason Co., Inc.", PrivCo, The Private Company Financial Data Authority
  6. ↑ Profile: "W.B. Mason Company". Hoover's
  7. ↑ "The Updated File on Office-Supply Stocks: FBR Capital Markets rates shares of Office Max, Staples, Office Depot, and others", Barron's, Friday, April 29, 2011. Quoting, "W.B. Mason also happens to be among the top five customers of office wholesaler United Stationers (ticker: USTR), hence the inclusion of that company's share price on the FBR Top Picks list."
  8. ↑ "Big interview: Cody Phipps", Office Products International magazine, March 1, 2010. The interview is with Cody Phipps, President of United Stationers.
  9. ↑ "Ask the Globe: Who was the famous W.B. Mason, who founded the Brockton-based office furniture and supplies store?", The Boston Globe, January 9, 2001
  10. ↑ "Lyreco joins hand with W.B. Mason for US contract"
  11. ↑ "W.B. Mason Locations". Retrieved 11 July 2014.

Coordinates: 42°5′2.0″N 71°1′5.6″W / 42.083889°N 71.018222°W / 42.083889; -71.018222

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