Watertown home and office refreshments distributor Crystal Rock Holdings Inc. has acquired Hartford Stamp & Office Works, giving Crystal Rock instant expansion into the Northeast office-products market.
Crystal Rock, which delivers its Vermont Pure and Crystal Rock bottled waters and Cool Beans brand coffees to homes and offices, paid an undisclosed sum for the assets of 91-year-old Hartford Stamp, 180 Market St. in downtown Hartford, officials said.
Crystal Rock CEO Peter Baker said the strategic acquisition gives his company immediate expertise supplying office products.
“We’ve combined category expertise with existing strengths in distribution, service and infrastructure,” Baker said, “and feel we have positioned ourselves to deliver a great experience right out of the gate to customers buying office supplies.”
According to Hartford Stamp’s online homepage, the company began in 1919 on Main Street producing rubber stamps and over the years expanded into making self-inking stamps, embossing seals, pins, badges and nameplates, among other products.
In 2001, businessman Gary Archambault bought Hartford Stamp from its second-generation owner and expanded the business into sales of office supplies and furniture. In 2006, Archambault moved the business back to downtown, on Market Street, where it has a showroom, manufacturing center and warehouse.
Last April, 96-year-old Crystal Rock introduced its 21 varieties of Cool Beans coffees to 100,000 homes and offices in its New England and Northeast territory.
