DBI in Lansing has found its business is booming due to the increased number of people working from home. | Pixabay
DBI in Lansing has found its business is booming due to the increased number of people working from home. | Pixabay
An office supply business located in Lansing that focuses on furniture, design and installation has changed how it offers customers services as adjustments are made due to COVID-19.
DBI - We Do Office, located at 912 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, remains open while many of its employees work from home, according to its website.
Because the coronavirus pandemic has sent many office workers home to work remotely, DBI is experiencing an increase in business at its retail outlet. DBI’s co-owner, vice president and COO Steve Klaver spoke to Chris Holman, host of “Michigan Business Beat” on the Michigan Business Network.
Most of DBI’s sales are business-to-business, but its retail outlet on Larch Street is “going great guns,” Klaver told Holman.
“You’ve got a lot of people doing their home offices -- redoing their home offices or setting up a home office for the first time, so that business has gone crazy,” Klaver told Holman.
“Of course, because of the furniture, people doing their social distancing and needing different types of setups in their offices to bring their employees back, so we’ve been busy doing that, selling a lot of PPE product. That’s been going out the door like wildfire," Klaver said on the radio program.
Future business offices may look different, Klaver told Holman.
“Back 15 years ago, everybody -- and before that -- were using the 80-inch high panels, and then everybody dropped to the low panels -- the 54s, 48s, so they could communicate better. You had better airflow, too, with the panels being low,” Klaver told Holman. “Now everybody wants to go back to the high panels, or else they’re putting glass or Plexiglas on top of the panels, so we’ve done a bunch of those where they’ve done splash guards, or whatever you want to call them, but clear plastic with maybe a pass-through to get a barrier."
DBI also supplies customers with PPE, such as face masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.
“I imagine that’ll be part of the design of the future office as well,” Holman said to Klaver. “And who knows what’s coming after COVID-19?”
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