Halsey & Griffith Inc. began as a 168-square-foot stationery store in downtown West Palm Beach in 1921, and this month the family-owned company that has reinvented itself several times is celebrating the iconic business's 100th anniversary.
Founded by John L. Griffith and William L. Halsey, the company has persevered in the face of hurricanes, the Great Depression, World War II, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991 and a 1993 restructuring, when it shifted its focus from retail to the copier business.
Longtime area residents will recall its heyday from the 1960s to the 1980s, when its store at 313 Datura St. was the place to go for office, art and engineering supplies, cameras and photographic supplies, books, gifts and greeting cards.
“Plus it was air-conditioned! Everyone in West Palm Beach shopped at Halsey & Griffith,” the company’s president, Robert L. “Robbie” Siemon, 72, said. James Waugh, Robert’s grandfather, bought Halsey & Griffith from the founders in 1948.
Halsey’s, as it was often called, became a regional chain with 11 stores from Vero Beach to Boca Raton. In the 1980s, Halsey & Griffith was one of the area’s top office suppliers, employing 175 people and reporting annual revenue of $12.5 million.
Many changes have occurred since then. In 2016, the company rebranded itself as HGi Technologies, after it moved away from selling office furniture and supplies. Now, Siemon said, It’s a South Florida leader in the copier business, selling and servicing copiers, printers, mailing systems and document-management systems.
With an office in West Palm Beach and a distribution center in Miami Gardens near the Golden Glades Interchange, the now 45-employee company serves customers in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. more here
