For the past 10 years, Stephanie Hubert has been filling the Valley’s needs for paper, pens and everything in between at her North Bend business, Cascade Office Supply.
Over the past decade, her business took on new facets, adding more services, such as school supplies.
“When people come in, I never want them to have to go out of town,” said Hubert, who went into business with best friend Frankie Westlake to put a stop to Valleyites making office shopping trips to Issaquah.
“At the time, there was an office store at the Mountain Valley Center,” Hubert said. “But they were going out of business, so we said, ‘Let’s do it!’”
With no actual business experience, the Cascade partners felt the entrepreneurial idea was meant to be, as everything easily fell into place.
Year after year, the business kept growing. It got to the point where, three years in, Westlake wanted to pursue something different, so Hubert took over her half. Since then, she’s added much more.
“We started with just office supplies, basic binders, pens, dividers and ink cartridges,” Hubert said. “And we’ve expanded on all those areas, adding signs, banners, a candy corner, and UPS shipping.”
As people requested more products, Hubert added them, stocking business cards and flyers and typing up customers’ resumes. Soon, she will be offering passport photos.
If she does not have what customers initially ask for, Hubert’s creative nature means she’ll offer them a different alternative that sometimes might be cheaper than what they originally wanted.
Affected by the economy, Hubert said she’s helped herself by educating the community on the benefits of supporting small businesses and how they drive the local economy.
“In 10 years, I’ve learned it’s an education process,” she said. “The community doesn’t realize the economic impact a small business makes.”
Looking forward to Cascade Office’s next 10 years, Hubert said she’d love to see the business really grow.
Born, raised and still living in the Valley, Hubert is tenacious. She plans to look for ideas to benefit her community.
“My biggest thing is finding services,” she said. “People always told me you have to have rivers of income coming into your business. In my opinion, that means not just income but ideas — a lot of different things that can make one big, solid company.”
