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Island Ink-Jet

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Island Ink-Jet is a large printer ink and laser toner supply chain store with stores in Canada and Puerto Rico. The brand is currently owned by The Equipment leasing company ltd. and based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and locations operate under a franchising business model. The chain offer a printer ink cartridge refill service and sell several varieties of ink cartridges and toner cartridges including remanufactured cartridges.

History

The company was founded by Carey Porcher and Rob Dixon in Courtenay, British Columbia in 1999. The first major expansion came under Ontario businessman Armin Sachse, who purchased the franchise rights for Ontario and opened three initial locations under his company "The Equipment Leasing Company Ltd.

Franchises quickly spread through 2006, as locations opened across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. ranking first in category for the 2005 franchise 500 (A listing of the top franchisors globally) and opening 260 stores by 2007. As of June 2005, the chain had 222 locations—146 in Canada, 73 in the United States, and 3 in Mexico. At that point there were 1103 total stores that specialized in offering ink cartridge refill services in North America and Island Ink-Jet had captured 20% of the in-store ink cartridge refill marketplace. It was second-largest ink-refill chain, behind only Cartridge World. A large portion of these locations were in mall kiosks.

With a general decline in the field of independent cartridge refillers, Island Ink-Jet closed their wholly owned USA company Island Ink-Jet Systems USA in 2008, which had operated 134 locations in the United States.

In early 2009, Alex Schulz reviewed the franchisor's 2008 financial statements and realized that the franchisor was functionally insolvent and was likely to close in the near future. As the most successful franchisee within the system, having opened over 55 locations and owning 12 within their group of companies, they stepped in to take over the brand. The pair created an interim associate group capable of supplying stores with product should the franchisor close. In the fall of 2009 the franchisor closed its doors and stores continued to operate thanks in part to the associate group.

The Equipment Leasing Company Ltd. then filed suit against the franchisor in Courtenay BC, which was completed in late 2009. The company won a court order and pursuant to that court order all intellectual property relating to the Island Ink-Jet brand including and not limited to trademarks, websites, manuals, files and more were acquired by The Equipment Leasing Company Ltd. The Equipment Leasing Company ceased all franchising activity in 2010 and opted to create a licensing model whereby stores operate pursuant to a licensing agreement with the licensor. This program took over from the associate group model with the primary difference being that the licensing model ensures the integrity of the trademarks for all parties. All prior franchisees were provided the right (not requirement) to opt into the new licensing program and the majority of stores across Canada exercised this option. Stores that did not exercise this option have been required to remove any branded signage and are no longer part of the Island Ink-Jet brand.

In 2011, Island Ink-Jet launched its online store allowing consumers to purchase directly online.

Island Ink-Jet has refilled over 10 million ink cartridges to date. and has been commended by government sources for its expansion and role in reducing waste at landfills.

The company was the winner of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce Green Award in 2005. It was nominated for the London Chamber of Commerce Green Award in 2006, and also nominated for Consumers Choice in Edmonton in 2011.

References

  1. Wiens, Christiana (11 September 2009). Island Ink-Jet out of business, Comox Valley Echo
  2. Dawidowska, Kasia. Getting Good Ink Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, Specialty Retail Report (Spring 2005)
  3. Stout, Sarah (1 November 2003). Successful branding ... without the hot poker, Franchising World
  4. (1 February 2003). Who new? The top 50 latest additions to the world of franchising, Entrepreneur (magazine) (ranking company as #33 among companies that began franchising after 1998, as of February 2003)
  5. O'Brien, George (1 November 2004). Ink-orporated, BusinessWest (story on expansion in Massachusetts)
  6. Alexander, Deborah (9 November 2004). Companies that refill used inkjet cartridges fill niche in market, Omaha World-Herald
  7. Wing-Tam, Pui (June 14, 2005). "Entrepreneurs Offer Cheaper Printer Ink". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  8. "Ink-refill firms aim at printer giants". Boston Globe. September 11, 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  9. Weschler, Alan (22 June 2005). Seeing green in ink refills, Albany Times-Union
  10. Lyra Research (November 3, 2006). "Office-Supply Superstores and Drugstore Chains Will Dominate Ink and Toner Cartridge-Refilling Market by 2009". Lyra Resedarch. Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  11. Irwin, Stephanie (1 May 2005). Full-service fill-up for an empty printer -- Island wants to grab its share of large inkjet pie, Dayton Daily News
  12. Mearns, Dan (7 December 2004). New kiosk sets up inkjet business at Port Charlotte, Fla., mall, The Sun (Port Charlotte)
  13. DeMoss, Jeff (29 July 2004). Ogden, Utah, mall kiosk refills printer cartridges, Standard-Examiner (article in chain's expansion in Utah)
  14. Jim (January 25, 2010). "HOW DID ALEX SHULTZ SAVE ISLAND INK-JET". TonerNews. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  15. Staff, AI (3 March 2011). "Retail Cartridge Refiller Island Ink-Jet Opens E-Commerce Website". Industry News. Actionable Intelligence. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  16. Island Ink-Jet Archives (November 24, 2005). "environment". Island Ink-Jet.
  17. Island Ink-Jet Archives (November 12, 2005). "parliament". Island Ink-Jet.
  18. Island Ink-Jet Archives (December 31, 2005). "mp". Island Ink-Jet.
  19. Island Ink-Jet Archives (December 31, 2005). "Award". Island Ink-Jet.
  20. Island Ink-Jet Archives (December 31, 2006). "london". Island Ink-Jet.

Further reading

External links

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