In 2001, S.G. Adams, which has sold office supplies for more than 126 years, filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
S.G. Adams, also known as Comfort Cos. Inc., told the court it had assets of $6.49 million and liabilities of $7.74 million. The bankruptcy was filed late Wednesday by attorney Charles Riske, who declined to comment on the filing.
Comfort Cos. was founded in 1900 by Clarence Comfort with a letterpress and flatbed press. Hartley Comfort Sr. bought the company in 1939 after his father died.
S.G. Adams was founded in St. Louis as an office supply business in 1875 by Stephen G. Adams. Adams became the first manufacturer of license plates for buggies and later, automobiles. When the license plate business took off, it was Adams who approached federal prisons and asked them to allow inmates to make plates for him, according to the company’s Web site.
Comfort Printing & Stationery purchased S.G. Adams in 1959. Comfort Printing was a local competitor that specialized in printing. “We left the Adams name because it was so well-known,” Comfort said.
The company’s problems started in the mid-1990s when it began closing its 13 stores and withdrew from the retail market to go after the commercial market. The company closed its last retail store, at 10th and Olive streets downtown, in 1994.
At that time, the company had an outside sales force of 14 and planned to hire seven more salesmen.
John Meara, president of Argent Capital Management, said the company fell prey to larger office and stationery supply stores. “It’s no different from what Walgreens has done to the small drug stores,” Meara said.
In the 1960’s to 1994, the flagship store for S.G. Adams was this famous building.