Ehrbar AG to close its stationery store

The Papeterie Ehrbar is closing its store on the Untermülistrasse in Zug, but will continue to offer advice on site. The family-run business is focusing on its online store, which has now been in operation for 25 years.
 

The Ehrbar family has been running its stationery store (Papeterie) for more than 45 years – and it’s now in its third generation. It has also been operating its online shop for around 25 years. Ehrbar AG supplies offices, schools, and other stationery stores with its products. The Zug store at Untermüli 1 will close at the end of November,– but personal advice in person and over the phone, as well as the online shop, will remain available.

The business began on 1st April 1978, in the family home in Edlibach, founded by Gerda and Alfred Ehrbar. At that time, they mainly sold folders, which they stored at their current location in the listed ‘Untermühle’ building in Zug. Despite having the warehouse in Zug, the family home soon became too small – at the latest when employees were ‘invited’ to have lunch at the family table, so to speak. “As a child, I really enjoyed that,” emphasizes Andreas Ehrbar, the current managing director and son of the founding couple.

From family home to specialist stationery store
Gerda and Alfred Ehrbar opened their office and specialist store – also in the Untermüli - on 15 December 1993, where they were able to display around 4,000 products in a 500-square-metre retail space. They had previously only sold their products by telephone and catalogue, but not over the counter. Shipping was carried out using their own vehicles.

Ehrbar AG currently employs 14 people in the office, in consulting, in shipping, and in the field. The latter involves on-site customer consulting, which is carried out by Alessandro Ehrbar, Andreas Ehrbar's nephew. He visits customers and introduces them to new products – the range now comprises over 50,000 products.

Christian (left) and his brother Andreas Ehrbar (right) run Ehrbar AG together.
Alessandro Ehrbar is Christian Ehrbar's son and works together with customers     Photo: zvg
 

The reason the store is closing
Andreas and Alessandro Ehrbar explain the reason for the closure as follows: over the past ten years, purchasing behaviour has shifted more toward the Internet. Among other things, digitalisation has led to a sharp decline in the demand for binders and registers. Following the coronavirus pandemic and the increase in working from home, orders from companies have also declined. In general, the younger generation tends to prefer shopping online. Andreas Ehrbar can well understand this: “The online shop is also very practical and convenient.”

Another factor is that they have lost a large, long-standing customer to a cheaper foreign supplier. Andreas Ehrbar puts this into perspective by saying that this is simply how the economy works. Nevertheless, the disappointment still lingers: the company attaches great importance to long-term relationships – both with customers and with employees.

Had the right “nose”
The company secured the domain “ehrbar.ch” for its website back in 1998, even though the online shop was “only” added in 2000. But this decision was not late at all – in fact, they consider themselves to be pioneers in the history of online shops. At that time, their customers preferred to order by phone or letter – whereas, today, things look very different. In the first year, they received about eight online orders – and were delighted. Today, they process ten times that number per working day.

“We probably had the right instinct for it,” says Andreas Ehrbar. Without their online shop, they would no longer be in business, speculate nephew and uncle. The fact that they started so early also helped them establish a strong online presence. Closing the store is not a big loss for the stationery shop, as 95% of their revenue now comes from the web shop, according to the Ehrbars.

Stationery shops are in transition
Their business was never a classic stationery shop, says Alessandro Ehrbar. Due to its location, they had no walk-in customers – anyone who set foot in their shop did so intentionally. They also had a “deep” range of products: instead of three of the most lucrative ballpoint pens, they offered 20 in different colours. Alessandro Ehrbar explains: “In order to survive as a traditional stationery store – especially in expensive city centre locations – you have to sell products with high margins above all else. There’s no room for 20 different ballpoint pens. That is why stationery stores are increasingly becoming boutiques – traditional stationery stores no longer really exist”, says Alessandro Ehrbar.

Nephew and uncle recount that one of their customers still orders by fax, another by handwritten letter. And one teacher insists on sending his orders in an Excel spreadsheet. ‘We've accepted this; we let people order however they want,’ explains Andreas Ehrbar. Alessandro Ehrbar recounts another amusing anecdote: a teacher once placed an order at around 11 p.m. on 31st December – here, too, they see the advantage of the online shop.

Overall, they are taking the end of the shop's operations in their stride. ‘Life is full of changes,’ says Andreas Ehrbar. But many other things don’t change – there is more that remains.