Quill Corporation - History

History

Quill Corporation was the outgrowth of an idea by Jack Miller. In 1956, with a small loan of $2,000 from Jack's father-in-law, a desk, chair and two phones, Quill's first office was established in the back room of his father's poultry shop on the north side of Chicago. Initially lacking retail experience, the young entrepreneur relied heavily on his face-to-face selling techniques to drive revenue. With the assistance of Jack's brother Harvey, the two evolved their marketing strategies to include mail-order campaigns that enticed potential customers with substantially discounted prices and free shipping - transforming Quill Corporation into one of the first mail-order companies in the United States. In 1974, Quill reported annual sales of $3.5 million. During the early and mid-1980s, the company's revenues skyrocketed, amounting to $180 million in 1986. Its mail-order business was the most successful within the office supplies market, with more than 40 million catalogues and flyers sent to a customer base of approximately 600,000 businesses and organizations, and listing more than 9,000 various office supplies and products. In 1996, the company launched the web site Quill.com. In the winter of 1998, Quill Corporation was acquired by Staples, Inc. for approximately $685 million. Jack Miller utilized funds from the sale of Quill to create the Jack Miller Center.