An east Auckland business owner is publicly expressing a big “thank you” to local parents and schools for buying their children’s stationery packs from his store.
Paper Plus Howick owner Ziahad Mohammed wants parents to know that if they buy their stationery packs from his store then the money stays in the local community.
But if they’re obtained from overseas-based retailers then the money goes offshore so there’s no “local benefit”.
“We encourage local schools to talk to us so we can provide a cost-effective solution and make it easier for parents to shop locally,” Mohammed says.
The packs are mainly bought by parents of children at primary schools and for those in years 1-6. His store can also supply them to local intermediate schools.
Local schools that source their stationery packs from Paper Plus Howick are Howick Primary, Bucklands Beach Primary School, Cockle Bay School, Mellons Bay School, Owairoa Primary School, Point View School and Sunnyhills School.
“Some local schools are unaware that if they don’t buy from Paper Plus Howick, they’re not contributing to the local community,” Mohammed says.
“The contributing principals and board members should be aware the money is going overseas or at least out of Howick.
“Paper Plus Howick is locally-owned and has been in the community for over 40 years.
“All 14 of our staff are locals and half of them went to local schools and now work for us.”
He says shopping for school packs is a great experience for children and their parents to create a memory as they prepare to go back to school, especially for younger ones.
“It mentally sets them up. Kids develop much more interest in learning when they look for stationery and supplementary textbooks themselves.”
Mohammed says when a local school enjoys the convenience to buy from his store, “they’ll give us a call or send us an email and we’ll deliver it to them because they’re just around the corner and it takes five minutes to drop it off”.
“The benefit they get out of that is not just the convenience, but also if they have an issue they can tell it to the person who can make the change that’s required.
“That’s compared to if they’ve ordered it from another company, it’s being delivered via a third party, so a courier turns up and if there’s an issue they can’t resolve it.
“That’s the feedback we get. They prefer to deal with us because when there are issues, we can sort it out straight away.”
When it comes to price, Mohammed says Paper Plus Howick has to compete with the market so its prices are generally competitive “and on some things we’ll try to match the price to help schools and parents”.
The business has school stationery packs available in-store and they can be ordered via its website.
It offers the same discounted price to pupils throughout the year, which isn’t done by any other supplier, Mohammed says.
“The other thing that makes us different is the range we offer.
“Because Paper Plus doesn’t manufacture the products it sells, it isn’t biased for or against any of them, unlike overseas suppliers who want customers to buy products they manufacture.
“We don’t have an incentive to push a particular product.
“We’re local and support local schools through donations and give away prizes for their events.”
Ministry of Education Hautū (leader) operations and integration Sean Teddy says: “Schools can use whatever supplier they wish.
“We can provide support to schools on how to join and navigate All of Government (AoG) contracts when requested.
“Schools may ask parents and whānau to buy stationery, and parents and whānau can choose whether to purchase the stationery from the school’s supplier or from another stationery provider.”
Lisa Campbell, the personal assistant to the principal and administration team co-ordinator at Point View School, says: “Point View School has been involved with Paper Plus Howick for many years for our school stationery needs for both students and staff.
“Ziahad and Shaniza, along with their wonderful team, always go above and beyond, providing personal service where nothing is a problem.
“Organising stationery packs for nearly 700 students at our school as well as all the other schools they work with, is incredible. We value the relationship we have with them.”
