volume xix no. 12 december 2013 · 2019. 4. 1. · volume xix no. 12 |december 2013 serving the...

Volume XIX No. 12 | DECEMBER 2013

Serving the Route 422, 100, 202, and Route 30 Corridors in Montgomery, Chester and Berks Counties.

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EthoSource

DECEMBER 2013ROUTE 422 BUSINESS ADVISOR 422business.com and 422bizmag.com 2

Route 422 Business Advisoris a proud member of:

Serving the Route 422, 100, 202, and Route 30 Corridors in Montgomery, Chester and Berks Counties.

Contents4In This Issue | DECEMBER 2013

422bizmag.com • 422business.com

EthoSource specializes in the provision of high quality, pre-owned furniture and refurbished cubicles, which can help you

experience significant cost savings while being eco-friendly.

Published by: MACnificent Pages, P.O. Box 334, Pottstown PA 19464-0334 Subscribe online! www.422bizmag.comEditor & Publisher – Bill Haley; Advertising Manager – Patti Seigel To contact the Route 422 Business Advisor: phone: 610.323.6253; fax: 610.970.6194; email: [email protected]

4 | Cover StoryEthoSource, LLC – Your One-Stop Resource for All Your Office Furniture Needs

12 | Ride to Prosperity Version 2.0Part 2 – The Work Plan

27 | Legal PerspectivesThink Twice Before Retitling Your Home

28 | Leadership And SuccessThe Limits of “E Marketing”

34 | Advertised Services DirectoryWhat You Are Looking For — At Your Fingertips

37 | Tricounty Area Chamber Of CommerceNews & Events

47 | Downtown Marketing And DevelopmentGaining Momentum for Revitalization

51 | Quick Technology TipsTop Ten Reasons Why Windows 8.1 is Worth an Upgrade

56 | Regional Chamber RoundupNews & Events: Spring-Ford Chamber of Commerce,Phoenixville Regional Chamber Of Commerce &Perkiomen Valley Chamber Of Commerce

... AND MORE!

8-11

22-26Browse the Business Marketplace

to grow your business, network,and keep your money local.

A variety of gift giving options, dining, and services to help makeyour holiday unique and special.

DECEMBER 2013 ROUTE 422 BUSINESS ADVISOR3


EthoSource, LLC, headquarteredin Morgantown, PA, is an officefurniture company that provides

a unique blend of value driven solutions to customers throughout the UnitedStates. One of the Route 422 Corridor’s greatbusiness success stories over the past 12 years,EthoSource specializes in the provision of highquality, pre-owned furniture and refurbishedcubicles, which can help you experience significantcost savings while being eco-friendly.

EthoSource was founded in 2001, by John Gallen Jr., under thepremise that the utilization of high quality pre-owned and refur-bished office furniture could be a source of tremendous cost savingsand an eco-friendly solution for businesses of all sizes. EthoSourcequickly grew from two people — Gallen, and Bryon Kauffman, VPof Sales — working from a small, one room office, to a thriving com-pany with 55 employees. Today, EthoSource is a national leader inthe field of liquidation services and refurbished office furniture.In spite of a post-recession, challenging economy in recent years,

or perhaps because of it, EthoSource has succeeded by respondingto opportunities created by market forces. When businesses closeor downsize, used furniture becomes available. On the other hand,no matter how bad times are, companies need to buy furniture,often because their lease has expired, and they are moving.“Fortunately for us, when that happens, buyers become a littlemore frugal, and they start to think that maybe there are some alter-

EthoSource

Your One-Stop Resource for All Your Office Furniture Needs!

DECEMBER 2013 422business.com and 422bizmag.com ROUTE 422 BUSINESS ADVISOR5

natives (to new furniture) that couldsave them money,” Gallen explains.“That’s when we tend to do fine,” hesaid. “One, we have access to a lot morefurniture, and two, there are companieslooking to save money. Buying pre-owned is a way of saving without sacri-ficing value and quality.”To accommodate growth and better

serve their customers, EthoSourcerecently opened two new, conveniently-located 50,000+ square foot retail stores — one at 184 Tuckerton Road,Reading (610.927.6464), and the other at 411 Yerkes Road in King of Prussia(484.681.9183). Prior to opening the newstores, EthoSource showcased its wideselection of new and pre-owned officeconference room furniture and chairsprimarily via the Internet, from photo-graphs and descriptions, and relied onreferrals from a growing list of satisfiedcustomers.“It’s a lot easier to do it from a store,”

John Gallen explains. “Chairs are a verypersonal thing. Everybody feels differentabout what they want. We want people tobe able to come in and test out differentchairs,” he said. “We have thousands ofchairs at both locations. We can put anycolor fabric on that customers want. Wefix the arms, the legs, the cylinders, andyou can pick the fabric and material. Weoffer sturdy high-end chairs that lendthemselves to being recycled.”“Particularly with pre-owned furni-

ture, there’s always a degree of nervous-ness, or fear if you’re buying somethingpre-owned,” added Bryon Kauffman.“Especially if these customers have seenpre-owned places elsewhere. We gothrough a lot of effort to alleviate thoseconcerns and fears. When you come to us,you get a result that looks like you spent aton of money, but you didn’t. We featureproducts that typically would be veryexpensive if you bought them new, at afraction of the cost. You get the same

result you’d get by going to the big fancynew dealers, the same services, the sameprofessionalism, but you don’t get thesame price tag.”Kauffman points out that it was a chal-

lenge to get customers from Philadelphiato come all the way out to company’smain warehouse location in Morgantown.“With the King of Prussia store we havethe ability to offer a very convenientlocation where someone can come andsee the size and scope of our inventory,kick the tires. We can have customermeetings there. It gives us a presence inthat marketplace that we didn’t havepreviously,” he explained.

(See “Cover Story” on page 6)


COVER STORY(Continued from page 5)

EthoSource’s pre-owned product offer-ings can also be supplemented with newoffice furniture from one of the manyquality manufacturers that they repre-sent. “We carry new product so that wecan fill in the gaps when we don’t havesomething pre-owned,” Kauffman said.“On a typical large project, somewhere inthere, the customer is going to want a spe-cific look, or a brand that we don’t hap-pen to have pre-owned.”In addition to helping you furnish

your space, Ethosource is also an expe-rienced and trusted provider of nation-wide office furniture liquidation andbuyback services. EthoSource providesa complete analysis of existing officefurniture to help maximize your furni-ture investment through a full, compre-hensive overview of the scope of theproject.Whether you are looking to liquidate

or acquire office furniture, Ethosource’sproduct knowledge and industry experi-ence will help guide you through everystep of the project, from space planning toinstallation.

Pre-Owned FurnitureEthoSource evaluates and acquires

beautiful inventories of gently used officefurniture from across the Unites States ona daily basis. “A major part of our busi-ness is the liquidation of furniture fromaround the country,” Kauffman said. “Webuilt the company on refurbishing cubi-cles. When we do a furniture liquidation,typically we get lots of other really nicenon-cubicle furniture, like executive officechairs, filing, and conference rooms.” Pre-owned office furniture from EthoSourcehas been carefully inspected, cleaned andinspected again prior to re-packaging forcustomers. Whether you need cubicles,executive offices, seating, filing, or confer-ence rooms, EthoSource can provide highquality pre-owned solutions that willsave you money.

Refurbished CubiclesThe cornerstone of EthoSource’s prod-

uct offering is refurbished cubicles, theirspecialty being Herman Miller Ethospace.“Cubicle systems are comprised of a steelskeleton that you can’t hurt or damage,”Kauffman explains. “It’s really just thepieces that you stack onto it, the cosmeticpieces that people see.” EthoSource is ableto provide a completely customizable A-grade furniture solution that offers unpar-alleled durability, flexibility and value.Cubicles are designed and specified toyour exact requirements. New fabrics andfinishes can be selected to create the lookand feel that you desire. EthoSource’srefurbished cubicles provide you with acubicle that looks and functions as if it werenew, without paying the price of new.

Cubicle CustomizationA recent trend in office furniture envi-

ronments has been economy of space.“Everybody’s trying to squeeze more peo-ple into smaller spaces,” John Gallen said.“The size of the workspace has shrunk. Itwent from hard wall private offices, tocubicles. Those cubicles were 8’ X 8’ or 8’ X10’. Now they’re all 6’ X 6’ or 5’ X 6’. Theyalso used to be a lot higher. They’re com-ing down, so that when you’re sitting atyour desk, you can see everybody else inthe office. There’s less privacy. The posi-tive side of that change is a better environ-ment for more collaboration. New build-ings have a lot more meeting rooms, asopposed to private offices. The hard-walled offices are now conference rooms.”One of the unique aspects of working

with EthoSource is their ability to cus-tomize pre-owned and refurbished work-stations to meet the specific needs of youroffice space, from a layout and aestheticstandpoint. The EthoSource sales anddesign team will walk you through theprocess, as you consider the requirementsof your workspace.



New FurnitureEthoSource offers a wide range of

new office furniture products frommany different manufacturers. They areready to provide you with numerousoptions for every part of your facilityincluding: conference and meetingrooms; executive office suites; trainingrooms; libraries; education settings; cafe-terias; and lobbies. Through the carefulblending of both refurbished and newfurniture, EthoSource will help you cre-ate an environment that is just what youare looking for.Green Furniture SolutionsSustainable Office Furniture, at its core,

has to do with protecting and preservingthe earth’s resources. By maximizingresource reuse, Ethosource is able to min-imize raw material needs, use a fractionof the energy and labor, and provide cubi-cle systems that are a perfect fit for anycompany pursuing green initiativesand/or the U.S. Green Building Council’s(USGBC) LEED certification. “Our prod-uct allows you to rack up LEED pointsquicker than new product would allow,”Kauffman explains.Space Planning and DesignEthoSource has a team of designers

ready to help you fully maximize andvisualize your space in the event of amove or reconfiguration. The trend todayis toward greater flexibility and mobility.“They put every piece of furniture youcan think of on wheels now, so that youcan re-arrange at will and set up for dif-ferent uses from day to day,” Kauffmansaid. “Flexibility of space is big. Utilizingthe same space for multiple uses is impor-tant now.”“Everything’s now wireless,” adds

Gallen. “Before there was a whole lot ofwiring underneath. What’s coming outnow are built-in USB power ports andmeeting tables with hubs for data.

Everybody wants to be able to plug theirphone in so they have enough juice.There’s a lot of that being built into wait-ing room furniture and lobby furniture aswell,” he said.EthoSource can suggest numerous cre-

ative layouts that will allow your busi-ness to grow and function as you need itto. From preliminary space planning, todetailed color renderings, EthoSource’sdesign team will provide you with all ofthe necessary tools to make intelligentdecisions regarding your space.Project & Move ManagementEthoSource has vast experience in

helping its clients manage all of theaspects of furnishing their office space.“Our project managers and our salesteam will help coordinate the deliveryand installation of all furniture that wesell,” Gallen said. Whether it be the coor-dination of the delivery and installation ofnew furniture, or the disassembly, moveand re-assembly of existing furniture in anew location, EthoSource will overseeand manage the process while supplyingyou with timely updates and inputthroughout the project.“When we engage a customer, they

have a dedicated designer who’s going towork with them,” Kauffman said. “Asales rep and a project manager are goingto work with them to coordinate all thelogistics, installation. We advise on allthose things that go into making an officespace come together. That’s what cus-tomers remember. What was the experi-ence like? We go through a lot to makesure their experience with us is excellent.”Swing Space ManagementIt often takes thinking outside of the

box when faced with the need to tem-porarily displace employees in the midstof a move or renovation. EthoSource hasthe experience and resources necessary to




SPRING-FORD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Spring-Ford Chamber of Commerce is a community-focused business advocate.We strive to help our member businesses grow while improving the community in which

we all live and work. The Chamber consists of local businesses whose main objective is to run a suc-

cessful business. We are a great resource for members, not only because we offerthe opportunity to network and brainstorm with fellow members, but also to have exposure to the local com-munity, your customer, through our continued involvement in community events and charitable endeavors..

REGIONAL CHAMBER ROUNDUP

• 313 Ridge Pike, 2nd Floor, Limerick, PA 19468 • 610.489.7200

Building a Better Community Through Business

Visitwww.springfordchamber.comfor Chamber Events, Press Releases, Online Newsletters and more!

UPCOMING EVENTSAnnual Chamber Holiday Mixer

Tuesday, December 17, 20135:00 - 7:00 PM

The Loft/Limerick Golf Club765 N Lewis Rd, Limerick, PA

Holiday Breakfast ConcertThursday, December 19, 2013

7:30 – 9:00 AMSpring-Ford Senior High School

350 S Lewis Rd, Royersford, PA 19468

Business-to-Business Expo:SPONSORS, BOOTHS, ADS &

ATTENDEESWednesday, February 26, 2013

11:00 AM - 2:00 PMJohn Paul II High School Gymnasium

181 Rittenhouse Rd, Royersford, PA 19468Interested in showcasing your business to other localbusinesses? Sign up as either a sponsor or for abooth to show off your products and services!

DR. DOUG TALKS HEALTH

At the October Chamber lunch, Dr. Doug Swede,Swede Family Chiropractic of Collegeville said thatstress is one of the leading causes of illness today. Headded that the major cause of this stress comes fromtrying to mesh our home and work lifestyles. The sta-tistics he gave show that Americans are not very suc-cessful at this. Here are a few enlightening numbers:• 20% of our gross domestic product (GDP) is

health related• 46% of Americans take prescription drugs• 4.02 billion prescriptions were written in US in

2011• 12/year is number of prescriptions filled by the

average American• 7 million Americans took antidepressants in 2001Dr. Doug reminded us that no one can be stress free

but that we learn to adapt to stress and learn to con-trol how we deal with it. He said that out stressors arephysical, chemical or environmental and tat these canbe good and bad. An example of good physical stressis working out. It elevates the heart rate and bloodpressure. Anger does the same things but not in agood way.

make this happen with as little disruptionto your business as possible. EthoSourcecan help you navigate the entire processwith such services as the temporary provi-sion of furniture, the knockdown and relo-cation of existing furniture, or both.

Office Furniture Liquidation & Buy Back

EthoSource is a nationally recognizedleader in the field of office furniture liqui-dation. Whether you are relocating,downsizing, reorganizing or upgradingyour existing furniture, EthoSource canprovide all of the services and expertisenecessary to effectively remove yourexcess furniture. EthoSource’s liquidationteam will manage the entire process toensure that all furniture is removed in theagreed upon time frame and that the max-imum value of the furniture is captured.All facets of the liquidation will be ana-lyzed, discussed and documented, upfront, to ensure a smooth and worry freetransition.In addition to the liquidation of office

furniture, EthoSource offers qualified cus-tomers a wide range of buy back, trade in,and banking options which can dramati-

cally offset the cost of new furniture.EthoSource will carefully evaluate anyexisting furniture to determine the maxi-mum benefit that it will have on the scopeof the entire project.

Building a Foundation for Excellence

A major reason for them phenomenalgrowth and success of EthoSource is theculture of creativity and innovation estab-lished by company founder John Gallen.“John has created an environment here

that is family-like,” Kauffman said. “Wehave a very close-knit staff, so we do tendto retain people for a long time. Ouremployees are all encouraged to be entre-preneurial. Everyone’s opinion and inputis welcomed. We are always looking fornew ideas of how we can do somethingbetter. We regularly implement things thatdidn’t come from the top down necessari-ly. It came from the bottom up,” he said.“We celebrate birthdays and employ-

ment anniversaries and give out gift cardsto employees,” Gallen added. “We’re 12 years old, and have a lot of 8th, 9th, and10th year employee anniversaries.”



Photosfrom theMixer at

ProvidenceCorner

Photosfrom theMixer atKineticEnergy

Photos from theRoyersfordHalloweenParade

“ We at Zuber Commercial have enjoyed ourcommitment to the Route 422 Business Advisor.

There are several reasons why we continue to take a whole page of advertising. The #1 reason has beenbecause we get good results. The exposure in the

marketplace reaches out to a variety of clientele. It reaches into various counties, which provides even more

exposure. Their professional approach & demeanor helps to create success for them and Zuber Commercial.”

– Richard A. Zuber, Owner, Zuber Realty

Place Your Ad in our NEXT issue!Call (610) 323- 6253

DECEMBER 2013 422business.com and 422bizmag.com ROUTE 422 BUSINESS ADVISOR59

The company also holds a monthlycompany lunch, where everyone gathers toenjoy pizza, sandwiches, and to interactand share ideas. “At that monthly lunch-eon meeting, whoever wants to share anidea or a thought is welcome to do that,”Kauffman said, adding, “But of courseanybody can do that on a daily basis.”“We also try to stay very connected and

involved in the community,” John Gallensaid. “We give away a lot of furniture tolocal non-profits. We’ve furnished wholeprojects in new buildings. We’re involvedwith a community shelter, youth organiza-tions, and other non-profits. Instead ofmaking a capital gift, we get involved fromthe very beginning with the architect todesign the space, and place furniture in thenew building.”Gallen is also heavily involved with the

Greater Reading Economic Partnership(GREP) and the “Ride to Prosperity” initia-tive. “I’ve been involved in getting newbusinesses to understand how economicdevelopment is good for all businesses,”

Gallen said. “We shifted about two yearsago to “How do we get the businesses thatare in Reading to stay and expand?”Including the corporate warehouse facil-

ity and warehouse space at the company’stwo retail locations, EthoSource has over200,000 square feet of organized, catego-rized, and carefully inventoried office fur-niture, which is in-stock and ready to bespecified for customers. EthoSource’sattention to detail starts internally and willbe carried through to the installation of thefurniture.Please visit www.ethosource.com for

more information including: Photos of cur-rent inventory; Virtual tour the show-room/warehouse; Furniture liquidationinformation; LEED information anddownloadable guide; and Quotationrequest forms.For additional information, please con-

tact: Ethosource, LLC, 180 GraceBoulevard, Morgantown, PA 19543;888.807.3846 or 610.286.1766, and visitwww.ethosource.com.


www.ethosource.com

volume xix no. 12 december 2013 · 2019. 4. 1. · volume xix no. 12 |december 2013 serving the...

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