News

RI Office and Capitol Stationery News

New feature on website

Thursday, 03 December 2009 20:42 |

Printing

For a while our quote request form was down on the website. It is back with 100% functionality. You can now submit quotes and upload all the necessary files, all with one click. If you are interested, look on the printing page of our website.

Promote Your Business!

Friday, 09 October 2009 20:57 |

Promotional Productus

We encourage you to explore our Promotional Products website. We are members of the Ad Specialty Institute, the industry leader in Promotional Products. Our membership gives us unlimited access to over 8000 vendors and hundreds of thousands of products that we can personalize with your logo. Use our website for gathering ideas and then let us source the product using the ASI database. We only use reputable vendors that have a reputation for delivering high quality merchandise on deadline. If you are looking for ideas, just let us know your budget and we will do the work for you. We'll create virtual samples and if you like what you see we'll order actual samples for you to inspect. If you don't have a logo we have artists on staff who can create one for you. We welcome your inquiries.

Website Upgrades and More

Tuesday, 08 September 2009 16:16 |

New Products

As you've probably noticed by the gradual changes made to our website, we are in the midst of a major upgrade in our business software and operating systems. Soon you'll be able to receive your invoices electronically. This will result in less work for you (no envelopes to open, no invoices to route to the proper person), as well as help us to save on postage. Our goal is to have that feature operational by November 1. If you'd like to convert to electronic invoicing, please call or email us and we'll sign you up.

Other changes are coming as well. With the new system we'll be able to electronically process the majority of our purchasing, which will speed up delivery of non-stock orders. This will also help us to compare costs with multiple vendors to insure the best deals for our customers.

We appreciate any feedback you have may have and any suggestions that would help enhance your shopping experience with us. Thank you for your continued support.

Alex Agronick

About Us

Thursday, 09 July 2009 17:53 |

Capitol Stationery was founded in 1922 by Alexander and Sadie Agronick. They located their business at the base of Weybosset Street in downtown Providence right in the heart of the financial district. Working together they built their enterprise over the next decade into a large and profitable business. As the sole distributor of R.C. Allen typewriters and adding machines in New England, they received a commission on every machine sold by every dealer in the region.

Having apprenticed and then working as a bookkeeper in area banks, Alexander used his expertise to create a series of ledger sheets that he named the A Series. The AL-1 fold-over ledger sheet was soon copied by other companies and became one of the most popular trial balance bookkeeping forms in the industry. Capitol Stationery was still selling these sheets up until the early 1980s.

In 1935, with the business flourishing, Alexander suddenly became ill with Leukemia and soon passed away. With a thriving business and three young children, Sadie resolved to keep the business going to support herself and her family. Things were going as well as could be expected when the great hurricane of 1938 blew into town and filled their Webyosset Street building with water right up to the ceiling. Sadie and her oldest daughter Beatrice had to be rescued from the second floor by boat.

Her business in ruins, Sadie again set about rebuilding her life. Re-stocking the store, she tried to maintain business as usual. However, since insurance did not cover floods, the debt she incurred nearly bankrupted the business. With only her common sense to guide her Sadie figured out a way to survive. Even though it took almost 30 years, she, with the aid of her son Raymond, worked hard and finally paid that debt off in full in 1965.

Today, the business is run by Sadie's grandson Alex, the third generation to run the business. Alex took over when his father Raymond passed away in 1996. Having worked in the business his entire life, Alex is committed to serving his customers with the same high standards set by his parents and grandparents.