Geiger Promotional Products has acquired promotional products supplier Worldwide Specialty Sales, a move that will enhance Geiger’s sales capabilities.
Worldwide Specialty Sales has been a family-owned business in operation for 45 years. The firm was founded by Paul and Myrtle Goldstein and continued by their son Alan Goldstein, who took over as president, and his wife Jackie, who is vice president. A sister, Gail Goldstein, had been involved with the business, but left to take a position with another firm.
“In our continued quest to grow and be a leader in the industry, finding people with a similar synergy, values and business ethics is one of the ways we choose to grow and that is well represented by the folks at Worldwide Specialty,” said Fred E. Snyder, VP-sales Eastern Region at Geiger.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sale is expected to close this month.
Goldstein and his team will continue to operate from Worldwide Specialty’s location in Pomona, NY selling their promotional products under the name Worldwide Specialty, a division of Geiger. Peter Zeiger, Geiger’s division manager handling the New York area through Maine, will oversee that location.
Alan Goldstein said that his decision to sell the company was based on changing business needs and the fact that his daughters did not express an interest in joining the firm. He said he also wanted to focus his efforts on selling.
“We really wanted to shed the back end of the business— receivables and payables— spend more time selling,” Goldstein said.
Geiger, based in Lewiston, Maine, ranks No. 9 on the Advertising Specialty Institutes list of Top 40 Distributors with 2003 sales of $121.4 million. Privately held Geiger, founded in 1878, operates 15 divisional offices in the U.S. and is affiliated with more than 400 independent sales representatives. It manufacturers calendars and planners and is the sole publisher of the Farmers Almanac and has about 500 employees. The company is run by run by Gene and Peter Geiger, fourth generation family owners.
Worldwide Specialty Sales sells about 60,000 items and had annual revenues of about $2 million.
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