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Olympia is home to countless innovative and thriving companies that have made their name and staked their claim in Thurston County and the surrounding area. But for one longstanding company, Olympia and the Puget Sound area have served as something else—a launch pad. This rings especially true for The Creative Office, Olympia’s local office furniture and supplies company. In the past year, the company has expanded east and opened a new location in the Spokane Valley to incredible reception and results.

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The Spokane location of The Creative Office has an impressive showroom, with an in-house designer, visualization and design software, and a team of sales people dedicated to enhancing customer experience. Photo courtesy: The Creative Office

The new location is focused solely on the office furniture business, which serves the company well. In fact, the TCO team has found the area open to, and in need of the company’s unique product and service offerings. The expansion is the result of TCO’s acquisition of Great Spaces, an office furniture company (a division of Great Floors) based in Spokane. Great Spaces specialized in providing office furniture to Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, with particular focus on K-12 institutions—a portfolio that fits right into The Creative Office’s wheelhouse.

When the company approached Lowell Gordon, owner of The Creative Office, about an acquisition, he didn’t hesitate. After all, office furniture is a main staple of the company’s current offerings and it made sense to move east to create a statewide presence. “Expanding to Spokane has allowed us to be geographically closer to our many eastern Washington clients and gain easier access to an untapped market,” says Gordon. “This was the natural next step for The Creative Office—and we couldn’t be more thrilled.”

After moving the showroom to a new location (wave as you cruise down I-90) and outfitting it with the latest in innovative office furniture and solutions, TCO has replicated the operations model that has been so successful for the Olympia location. The showroom boasts an in-house designer, visualization and design software, and knowledgeable sales people who truly make a difference in the customer experience. In fact, Gordon credits the team as his most valuable asset.

Just listen to his recounting of a mentorship between a veteran and new teammate, and you’ll have no doubt that Gordon is continually impressed by every member of his team. Both the Olympia and Spokane teams are made of industry experts and fresh faces new to the furniture game, which has proven to be a positive dynamic for the colleagues and customers. Most Great Spaces employees made the jump to The Creative Office team, bringing the total number of company employees to nearly 40.

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The Creative Office’s owner, Lowell Gordon, is thrilled with the opportunity to reach Eastern Washington clients. The new location is off of Interstate 90. Photo courtesy: The Creative Office

“A business is its people,” says Gordon. “This acquisition has been so positive because of the people that we inherited and the existing staff that has helped them thrive along the way.”

The future is bright for Olympia’s family-owned all-things-office supplier. The Creative Office and its team looks forward to the future and what this eastward acquisition might spur for the company. It wasn’t only a natural next step, but a lucrative one. Sales have far surpassed initial projections, and the company plans to expand its offerings over the next twelve months to include office and janitorial supplies to reach a broader client base.

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