About Us
Our Address:
Independent Suppliers Group
5600 N. River Road
Suite 700
Rosemont, IL 60018
Founded in 1977, Independent Suppliers Group is the most progressive office products dealer group in the world. Independent Suppliers Group members embody an entrepreneurial spirit, believe that a cooperative effort with other independents provides the best opportunities for growth and success, and that this cooperative spirit enables each member to prosper in today’s competitive marketplace.
Independent Suppliers Group members are locally-owned and operated, but utilize common merchandising and marketing to aggregate the collective strength of the organization. The group’s value-added programs and services format focuses on addressing the needs of independent office products dealers, and that focus keeps Independent Suppliers Group at the forefront of the industry.
Independent Suppliers Group is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois and has approximately 800 members, across the United States and Caribbean, who sell office supplies, school supplies, office furniture, machines and machine services, printing, computer/IT supplies, janitorial and break room supplies, and a wide variety of other products and services.
Our Mission: ISG empowers its members with purchasing programs, sales and marketing tools and leverages the combined size, strength, knowledge and experience so its members can succeed in their marketplace.
History
Hoosier Independent Stationers (HIS) was formed in 1977 in Indianapolis, Indiana by seven independent office supply dealers. Their vision was to become the best customer driven salesforce in the marketplace. Individual dealers cooperated as a single buying and marketing force in the U.S. While this concept was already being utilized in the grocery and hardware industries, HIS was the first office supply dealer group in the United States. Soon after 1977, the group began to expand beyond its Indiana boundaries, and changed its name to simply Independent Stationers.
In 1994, Independent Stationers began operating as a cooperative, much like True Value®, Do-It-Best Centers, Ocean Spray®, and Sunkist®. IS members continue to be locally-owned and operated, but utilize common merchandising and marketing to aggregate the strength of the organization.
The organization has continued to evolve, merging in 1998 with a similar group, Office Network. In 1999, we began using the name is.group and we later affiliated with an organization to enable each group to benefit from the combined strength of each: Pinnacle Affiliates, a dealer group of large office supply, furniture, and other services companies.
As time evolved, the typical member was not just a traditional office supply dealer, selling pens and paper. Today, members and affiliates sell office furniture, computer & IT supplies, printing, school supplies, janitorial and break room products, promotional products and more. The organization recognized this need and created affiliate programs for many of these category resellers.
In 2018, we rebranded as Independent Suppliers Group - ISG. The new brand identity reflects the dealer group’s desire to more accurately describe what the cooperative represents today, which is a “big tent” that enables different types of dealer focus, including office supplies, furniture, facilities/maintenance/industrial dealers. It also eliminates the antiquated use of the word “stationers” that was developed back in 1977.
Over the years, other dealer groups were created, providing similar services to their members. In 2019, ISG, Pinnacle Affiliates, and TriMega Purchasing Association merged to form the world’s largest independent dealer group. With membership now over 800, ISG continues to develop new programs and services for its members and affiliates, allowing each to create efficiencies in their businesses!