Proudly Following In His Father's Footsteps

Carl Waldeck
Founder
In late 1948, new San Francisco residents Carl Waldeck and Carol Citron were introduced by a mutual friend. Carol worked at 214 Front Street, about a block away from Waldeck's current location. Carl had an import/export business nearby at 200 Davis Street. Less than a year later, they were married. In 1954, Carl founded Waldeck's Office Supplies. His tireless work ethic, exemplary customer service, positive outlook and extraordinary product knowledge were the cornerstone of Waldeck's success for over four decades.

Clifford Waldeck
President and Owner
Carl's son Clifford started at Waldeck's during the summer after 7th grade doing deliveries. He continued part time at Waldeck's, working in all facets of the business, through high school and UC Berkeley. After graduation, Clifford joined Waldeck's full time in 1981. Carl and Clifford would work together for the next fifteen year until Carl's retirement in 1996.

Recently, Carl wrote about the early years of Waldeck's...

It was the middle of 1953 when I decided to try to strike out on my own. My last job was with S.R. Gleberman Stationery and Shipping Room Supplies. At the time, this small outfit was at 200 Davis Street, in the old Haslett Warehouse between Clay and Sacramento Street. I discussed this with my boss, Mr. S.R. Gleberman, who asked me to stay with him till the end of the year. On the groundfloor, the warehouse had a number of about 12 x 12-ft. cubbyholes, which had been designed as offices for manufacturer representatives. The warehousing of merchandise was done on four floors. I rented one of these cubbyholes for $25.00 per month and was assured by the warehouse manager, Russell Matson, that I did not have to pay for the first six months (I always paid). The building also offered a switchboard service, which would answer my telephone while I was out trying to drum up business.

In October, I applied for a retail license in City Hall. I had borrowed on my life insurance all I could $800. I was shocked when I learned that in order to get a license, one had to deposit with City and State six months estimated sales taxes. What could one do? Fortunately, the gentleman who interviewed me was very kind. He asked how much rent I would have to pay and into all other expenses, incl. living. Then he helped me to adjust estimated turnover and profit margin figures to make it all out to make some sense. In those days I believe that we had to pay the City 1% and the state 3% sales tax. Well, my interviewer took $200.00 sales tax deposit but warned me that I might be asked to increase this deposit, something which never happened. So I was ready to go into business on January 2, 1954. As I had a wife and a toddler to support, just for security reasons should something go wrong, I had two job offers to fall back on.

I made my first round calling on my customers and collecting my first few orders. I had discussed my striking out on my own with my better customers. The backbone of the business during the first few years were six fire insurance companies and, of course, the Sperry & Hutchinson Co. (S&H Green Stamps). We supplied their 125 redemption stores as well as their four distribution centers. This organization was very kind to me and paid me at once. A wonderful group of men ran their West Coast operation and I will always be grateful to them.

I plugged along and when a glitch came, there would always be somebody who helped out or guided me. Of course, for the first seven years I could not take a day off- the price you pay for a one-man operation. After two years I hired Frank Junod, a professional trumpet player who worked for me as a shipping clerk and we moved in the same building to an office twice the size where I could store some merchandise and have a wrapping table. Things were looking up. When Frank Junod left me, I hired another trumpet player, Frank Rago, who stayed with me till he died of a heart attack. In 1960, Bertha Bires joined us. She came from Salt Lake and had spent her life in this industry. Her help and know-how was invaluable in the days to come. The Redevelopment Agency had decided to redevelop the produce center, which went from Drumm Street in the east to Battery Street in the west; from Sacramento Street in the south to the San Francisco Bay in the north. The old Haslett Warehouse was included in this project so we had to look for new quarters.

At this time we already had many of the customhouse brokers as customers. Many of them were located in a building just opposite the customhouse and this too was to be redeveloped. So the brokers had to move too. One of the first to move, Harper, Robinson & Co. had rented two or three floors at 545 Sansome Street and calling on them I had to go with the lady buyer to their supply room which was in an adjoining one story building on Washington Street. Margret told me that this supply room was temporary and as soon as the third floor at 545 was available the supply department would be moved. The owners were also Brown Bros. Adjusters, who had bought the building from the American Ink Co. Next morning I was up at Brown Bros. Meeting Ted Brown and asking him to let me rent the street level store which Harper Robinson would vacate. It took Ted a few weeks to make up his mind and we had our first store location. Two or three months later, we moved.

Slowly but surely, we built up business. The Jackson Square crowd was kind and received us very well. Our commercial business was also growing. The year was 1961 or it might have been 1962. Things went ahead. Having Brown Bros. as landlords, we got all their carbon paper and typewriter ribbon business for all their 42 branches. Nice business. It must have been two or three years later that Ted Brown talked to me suggesting that we move across the street on Sansome Street where a machinery outfit had moved out and we would be next to Boro's Bars. His brother Al had the drug store at the corner of Washington Street. Ted Brown said he would try to get us the place which was substantially larger than his place on Washington with a good size basement. He would pay for our move across the street. We moved across and bought ourselves a used conveyor belt which had been previously in the building and installed it in the basement where we could now put our shipping department.

The following year we were able to rent the adjoining store where we put an office furniture department, which sort of dragged along. We did not do enough to make it a success and too much to close it up. Jack Walker ran it. He had the product knowledge but was not the right man to put it over. We stayed there for eight years when finally we were notified that the city wanted to widen the street up to Kearny. The reason was that they were building the off-ramp from the freeway was emptying out to Washington. They gave us 90 days to vacate.

The scramble was on. Clay Street was also going to be widened as it would become the on-ramp to the freeway. This being San Francisco where Louis Lurie was king, you could not touch his property. Consequently the street was widened from the freeway to the middle of the block between Sansome and Montgomery Street on the south side. Suddenly the widening was done on the North side of the street, this way avoiding tearing Mr. Lurie's beautiful bank building at the corner of Clay and Montgomery. It was almost impossible to find a ground-floor location. Reason was The Bank of California had torn down their old headquarters building to build a new and higher one. In the meantime they had leased any available ground-floor space to accommodate all of their departments. At this time they were already one year past the projected finishing date. Kiddy corner from us at corner of Clay and Sansome was what I considered the perfect location for us. Unfortunately it was still occupied by the Bank of California. Mr. Louis Lurie promised me he would let me have the location whenever it became available.

Our vacating day ordered by the City came near. Fortunately the second floor was vacant so we moved there first and two months later, downstairs. We put a backdoor in on the Clay Street side and a stairway into the basement. This would be our happy home for the next 8 years. It was also the place where Clifford entered the stationery business at the age of 12. It was the summer of 1970. We had a good eight years here when one day Mr. Lurie came in asking for me, telling Bertha while crying that his boy (son) had sold the building against his wishes and he had come down to tell me personally. Well, we were notified of the sale a few weeks later and I think they gave us quite a few months to relocate. Again we looked very much in vain. There were no vacancies. One day Dick Ward dropped in and I suggested in a jest that he really should buy himself a building because we were in need of the premises he occupied. Well, as ridiculous as it seems, Dick and his partners bought themselves a building and we took over 524 Washington Street and the store next door which was a garage. We remodeled the garage to a store and the back into a shipping room. Clifford and a friend came home from UC Berkeley and did just about all the transferring of the understock into the basement. This became our home for the next 24 years.