The St Regis Group (PPAI 230188, S6) has acquired the Journal Division of The Book Company (PPAI 218850, S5), a Delray Beach, Florida-headquartered supplier of published books and journals. The news was first announced today in a PPB Newslink Breaking News alert.
“Developing our journal line has been fun and rewarding and has opened so many doors for us,” says Roni Wright, MAS, vice president of The Book Company. “My team and I are excited to now focus our full energies on our original passion, books and other products from the world’s top publishers.”
The Book Company’s journal division represented half of the company’s business, with the other 50 percent accounted for by books and other published products including, puzzles, games, stationery, and gift items Wright tells PPB Newslink, “We’ve been promoting books in the industry for 20-plus years and then, eight years ago, our team refocused its efforts to designing and selling journals as well. When the pandemic hit, we experienced a tremendous spike in orders for published books and other published products. With meetings and conferences shut down, journals took a back seat. Rather than wait out a ‘return to normal,’ St Regis Group offered us the perfect way forward. The Book Company could focus 100 percent of our efforts on our original passion—books—and St Regis’s larger network of distributors in both the U.S. and Canada will take our journal line to heights beyond what we could have ever achieved on our own.”
Guy Malk, St Regis chief marketing officer, tells PPB Newslink, “As a premier go-to supplier, St Regis is constantly looking for ways to strengthen our position as an industry leader. With the recent addition of Hugo Boss-branded portfolios and agendas, the new Eccolo and Shinola Detroit Journals will be a perfect complement to this ever-expanding category. The new range of journals also gives us the ability to offer endless new combinations of journal and pen gift sets. The opportunities for growing this line are tremendous and with the resources and technology at our disposal, we see great potential for St Regis to become an essential supplier in the journal category.”
Starting today, promotional products distributors can source The Book Company’s complete journal line, including Eccolo and American-made Shinola-branded journals, from the St Regis Group. The Book Company’s Missy Kilpatrick, vice president of business development, has joined St Regis and will continue to manage and expand the journal line with her new team. She says, “We couldn’t have found a better home for our incredible journal line. My new team at St Regis is committed to continuing our retail-inspired focus and expanding the journal line in new and exciting ways.”
Richard Firkser, president and CEO of the St Regis Group, adds, “Missy and the team at The Book Company have done an incredible job for over two decades in building and promoting their premium range of journals. The addition of these premium journal brands to our ever-expanding line of pens and stationary products will cement St Regis as a leader in this exciting category.”
Over the past eight years, the Itasca, Illinois-based supplier has been growing steadily through acquisitions. In 2012, St Regis acquired industry awards supplier R.S. Owens, Inc. and in 2013, it announced an alliance with supplier Ritter Pen to provide infrastructure, production and logistical resources. In 2016, the company merged with supplier K&R New York.
