Page 24 - BusinessWest August 4, 2021

more question marks.
Indeed, what happens next is anyone’s guess,
as BusinessWest learned as it talked with Proshan and Arnold about has transpired and what is like- ly on the horizon.
Measures on the Table
As he walked and talked with BusinessWest in his huge showroom, Proshan noted that he’s sell- ing a number of items to be used by people work- ing at home, especially chairs — “they want good seating, but they don’t want to spend a lot for it” — and sit/stand desks, because they’re smaller and also because many people want the option of sitting or standing.
Meanwhile, he said he’s also been selling more large conference-room tables — those for 12 to 20 people — than would be considered normal.
When asked why, he gave a quick and defini- tive “I don’t know, exactly, but we are,” before jok- ing that companies might need bigger tables for all those meetings that will decide what they’re going to do next.
Overall, this interest in large conference- room tables and the possible reasons behind it comprise just one of the many unknowns for this industry. What is known is that the past 18 months have been an extremely difficult time, and the challenges are far from over.
They may just be different challenges.
Looking back, Arnold said Conklin, like all businesses in this sector, saw business evapo- rate early on during the pandemic as businesses shut down and then hunkered down, with buying new or used office furniture, or redesigning their space, the last thing on their minds.
“We were flying just before COVID, and then
ence, and I don’t know how it will all play out; it’s a perfect storm that’s developing, and where it will go, I don’t know.”
Looking ahead and projecting what might come next, Proshan said this assignment is diffi-
“It’s going to be a difficult situation when people want products from you and manufacturers aren’t able to deliver them to you until much later than your customer is hoping to receive them.
we just hit a wall,” he explained, adding that, through a number of efficiency and austerity measures — including a four-day work week for all employees — the company managed to slash expenses to an extent that it was nearly as profit- able in 2020 as it was in 2019.
Elaborating, he said that, in hind- sight, the timing could not have been better for the company to consolidate operations and move into new facili- ties on Appleton Street in Holyoke in late 2019.
“We’re able to do more with fewer people,” he explained. “We’re much better organized, and we’re not so spread out. We’re much more efficient.”
”
cult because many companies are still very much trying to decide what they’re going to do.
“At the moment, business leaders are try-
ing to figure out what their employees want,
and employees are trying to figure out what
their employers are going to be expecting,” he explained. “With all of that taking place, not a whole lot has happened yet. People have been talking about business getting back up to speed in the spring, and then the fall, which is not here yet, and then, the first of the year. We still have those mileage markers out there in front of us, so there’s a whole lot more that’s unknown than known.”
Proshan theorizes that many companies will create more space for each employee in efforts to create safer environments, and that, in all likeli- hood, there will be fewer people working in the office and more in remote settings.
Now, as it emerges from those very difficult times, there are new and different challenges to face, including supply-chain issues and a lack of inventory, just as some larger corporations are in a “panic mode,” a phrase he used a few times, to move on from the pandemic themselves.
“These corporations are working our sales teams to the limit,” he explained. “They want numbers, they want to know when things can be delivered ... and a lot of the news we have to give them is not good; prices are going up, and deliv- eries are being postponed.”
Overall, Arnold said, inflation and the skyrock- eting cost of shipping product are just starting to impact prices within the industry.
“We’ve just had our first price increase on our
imported products; we just couldn’t hold it where
it was any longer,” he explained, adding that, as
the cost of shipping continues to escalate, more Office
price hikes are likely. “It’s been quite an experi- Continued on page 28
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