By Jill Sweetapple, SGA Blog Contributor

If you have been a member of SGA for more than a couple of years, you may have seen Bob Henderson and his table for Hollinger at annual meetings. But what do you know about Hollinger, really?

Who started Hollinger Metal Edge and when?

The Hollinger Company was started by William Hollinger in 1945. Mr. Hollinger worked with officials from The Library of Congress and National Archives to develop archival paper & board for long term storage. Following on the success of The Hollinger Company, in 1995 Bob Henderson along with the late Larry Gates formed the archival division of Metal Edge, Incorporated. After many years of collaboration, The Hollinger Company and Metal Edge, Inc. merged in 2008 to become Hollinger Metal Edge, Inc.

How many staff do you employ?
Currently 35

Most of us are familiar with the standard supplies, but tell us about the product assembly department.
The Hollinger Box begins from a large sheet of board. From there, we run the large sheet of board through a slitter to get a much smaller size sheet to accommodate the Hollinger Box cutting die. On to the die cutter, each Hollinger Box gets die cut from a single sheet of board. Think of the die cut as a cookie cutter. We can mend metal dies to make almost any shape we want. The final process in making the Hollinger Box is applying the metal edges. Our metal edge machines apply one edge at a time and resemble a large free standing sewing machine. Operators pre-fold each box and add a pull string prior to applying the metal edges to each box.

What has been the biggest challenge for Hollinger during COVID?

With the Global shutdown, we were not able to receive or ship orders. During the Summer of 2020, we noticed a small opening of Universities and Museums. Due to them, we were able to survive as a business and keep our employees employed. The Spring of 2021 is when we have noticed the biggest gain in orders, and we are hoping by Fall of 2021 we can resume operations at full capacity.

Tell us about the new website!

During late Spring of 2020, while working from home, we decided to focus on the future by building a new website from the ground up. This process was done between many people collaborating from their makeshift home offices. We wanted more than a fresh new look. We wanted a better browsing and purchasing experience. Our new web platform allows us to make immediate changes, so look for new product and new product pictures in the near future.

What is your best seller?

The first product made by Hollinger Metal Edge was the document case, better known as The Hollinger Box. This product today, in legal and letter size, continues to be our best seller. Of course, no Hollinger Box is complete without Hollinger File Folders.

How, if at all, will Hollinger change after the previous “unique” year?

As a small business, we have a better understanding of how essential our employees, vendors and customers are to us. Though the world is big, we operate in a small cottage industry where self-reliance is omnipotent. The phrase “thank you for your order” has a new-found significance.