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S&S WorldwideWith Arts & Crafts,
School Supplies,
Christian Resources,
Party & Themes, Aaron Schwartz founded S&S® Worldwide in 1906, while still a recent immigrant from Russia. At that time the company, called S&S® Leather, dealt in scrap leather which was often used for small handicrafts. Located in New York City, the center of the leather trade, S&S® Leather sold kits to make comb cases, purses and hair curlers, all of which quickly became popular items with charitable organizations that provided for the disabled. Hospitals and other institutions soon became substantial customers. As the company grew, Aaron moved his family and the small firm from the ever-hectic city to rural Colchester, Connecticut, where it remains to the present day. Aaron's son, Hyman, inherited control of the company in the 1930's, and started to gear it toward mail order. Using flyers, and then color catalogs, S&S® Leather reached across the country and developed a broad customer base. With the addition of crafts and craft supplies, Hyman began serving camps, municipal park and recreational programs and other institutional customers. Hyman also pioneered the creation of Group Packs -- craft kits containing all the necessary materials for an entire classroom or other group to complete a project. In the late 1960's Hyman passed away, and his son Stephen became president of S&S®, a post he holds to this day. Stephen has continued the mail order approach developed by his father, but expanded the company's product line, which now includes games, therapy products, early learning materials and products for movement, motion and balance. The company still maintains a family atmosphere, with traditions dating back over 90 years. Many employees have seen their own children begin to work at S&S®. Stephen Schwartz is no exception; his sons Adam and Hy represent the fourth generation now actively involved in the daily operations of this family business. In the early 1990's, S&S® Leather became S&S® Worldwide, reflecting the wider spectrum of the products and services offered by this expanding company. S&S® Worldwide prints a "master" catalog of over 500 pages, as well as specialty catalogs targeting different customer segments. With thousands of products kept in inventory, S&S® has grown to occupy over 250,000 square feet of warehouse and fulfillment space. S&S® also produces and manufactures many of the company's proprietary products and designs. Each year the S&S® Worldwide product development team designs, develops and sources new products for craft kits, therapy, physical education and early learning. S&S® Worldwide's several hundred employees work together to ensure that you always receive outstanding customer service and the highest quality products on the market.
Customer Service Over the past 90 years, S&S® Worldwide has supplied innovative products and outstanding customer service to education, recreation and healthcare professionals around the world. Our expanding customer base includes schools, physical education programs, day care facilities, park and recreation departments, summer camps, family resorts, Vacation Bible Schools, religious institutions, hospitals and medical centers, as well as nursing homes and assisted living facilities. S&S® Worldwide has been a leader in responding to the ever-changing world around us. Believing that a static company cannot survive, we've continued to reinvent ourselves to meet the evolving needs of our customers and their clients. By forecasting these changing needs, S&S® Worldwide has remained a market leader in products for therapy, education and recreation. Our talent and experience in these fields enable us to find growth opportunities in new markets around the globe. S&S® Worldwide aims to answer the challenge implicit in its name – an international approach that embraces the globe. We currently boast a customer base that secures our name domestically and overseas, with major account presence in Europe, the Pacific Rim, Asia and Australia. We have also found it beneficial to import both raw materials and finished goods from the Far East and other parts of the world. Our merchandisers search the world for the most unique items and the best value for our customers. In January, 1999 we debuted the all-new S&S® Worldwide website, allowing us to reach our customers in ways never before possible. People from all over the world can now purchase product, request a catalog, ask questions, even discover job opportunities, all with the click of a mouse. S&S® Worldwide takes a dual approach to the challenges of the modern business environment. First and foremost, we depend on our people, a dedicated, dynamic, motivated workforce. We’re proud of our people, and the way they have helped S&S® Worldwide grow into the strong company that it is today. Second, we listen to our customers, and we take action on the things that they say. We have pioneered programs, such as our annual Healthcare Symposium and our Education-based focus groups, which provide a forum for immediate customer response. Through this on-going dialogue, S&S® Worldwide helps to shape the market, not merely follow it. The sales and marketing force at S&S® Worldwide is quite simply second to none. For three generations, we have learned the market by growing with it. In therapy, education and recreation, customers rely on our expertise, and depend on our imagination. We develop exciting new products in partnership with our customers. Our merchandisers spot the newest trends because they specialize in the individual markets they serve. Our telephone sales representatives are product experts. They handle requests on thousands of different items with speedy, accurate and professional service, striving to exceed the expectations of every customer. More than a few of our customers request their favorite sales representative by name. It is here that we find the foundation of trust that translates into long-term customer loyalty. A large number of our products carry the "S&S® Exclusive!" label. Our product development team continually creates innovative new products, while improving existing items, based on customer input. Some of our products are actually inspired by the hundreds of customers who enter our annual "Great Idea!" contest.
Technology Creating a top-quality product and generating sales would be an empty exercise without a state-of-the-art operations system. The technology we have worked so hard to secure has made S&S® Worldwide an industry leader in warehousing and fulfillment. Our eager embrace of new technologies has kept us steps ahead in today’s aggressive business environment. Our systems are far from off-the-shelf programs and methods. They enable us to serve a broad market with a diverse customer base. We handle large institutional contracts, mid-sized group orders and the individual customer each with the same high speed and efficiency. We pride ourselves on our ability to incorporate the latest technological breakthroughs into our daily operations. In-house systems engineers continually update our programming. To prepare for the 21st century, our designers initiated a complete Information System conversion. This upgrade creates a stronger, faster and more flexible database, which allows us to provide our customers the best service in the industry.
Our Facility We manufacture or assemble a major portion of our product line on site. Top-quality equipment and the experts who use it ensure that the production process is fast, safe and picture-perfect. Goods purchased and packaged for resale must be maintained and controlled for style and quality. Finally, the tremendous variety of materials must be accounted for and provided safe and efficient storage. Over 250,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space represents a commitment to inventory levels, guaranteeing that all orders will be shipped complete. Conveyors, flow-racks and clear systems orientation make the picking process an organized and speedy example of people / materials / time management. In our peak season, we process over 5,000 orders daily with a 95% completion rate. Along with superior levels of service, S&S® customers know us best through our catalogs – literally a showcase for our unique items and market focus. Our skilled in-house creative team pulls thousands of innovative products together into beautifully-designed, easy-to-follow catalogs, which reflect the concerns and needs of our customers.
Award-Winning Catalogs Our creative and merchandising staffs work closely together to produce catalogs for customers in the recreation, education, sports and healthcare markets. Our merchandisers select the best possible products that meet the needs of each market. The clear, detailed images and informative, benefit-driven copy have made S&S® catalogs an industry standard, and a favorite among customers. We also frequently custom-design catalogs for specific groups, such as The YMCA®, The Girl Scouts® and The Boys & Girls Clubs of America®.
Continuing Growth When our Executive and Senior Management teams set a growth strategy in place almost a decade ago, the goal was to grow internally with selected acquisitions. In 1998 our executive team added Snitz® Manufacturing to the S&S® family of companies. For the past 45 years, Snitz® has been manufacturing and distributing unique products for motion and balance to the physical education market. Their products include balls, foam products, team packs, game nets, balance items, tossing games and a complete line of sporting equipment. Snitz® Manufacturing brought us two new proprietary product lines, Gator Skin® coated foam balls and Spectrum™ sporting equipment. Both of these brand names are highly recognized and sought after in the physical education market. To better serve our customers on the West Coast, we opened a sales office in Anaheim, California during the Spring of 2000. Customers across the country now have easy access to the experts at S&S®. As we move confidently into the 21st century, S&S® Worldwide anticipates steady growth, and will continue to shape the market as it did during the 1900’s. For questions on your order or for product information, call toll-free: (800) 937-3482 Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 7:00pm, EST Customer Service: cservice@ssww.com Webmaster: webmaster@ssww.com (Problems or suggestions related to the site only.) By Mail S&S® Worldwide PO Box 513 75 Mill Street Colchester, CT 06415 1-860-537-3451 To order Shop online by browsing a category from the top or the left of this page, or use the search feature at the top right of the page. Order by phone Toll-free phone: (800) 243-9232 Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 9:00pm, EST Saturday, 8:00am to 12:00 noon, EST 24-Hour toll-free fax: (800) 566-6678
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