From humble beginnings…

Franklin Creative Solutions, LLC was founded in 2016 by Owen Franklin, a former thermal engineer. For half a decade, Owen helped build rocket systems for large defense contractors in Huntsville, Alabama, which is also known as the Rocket City.

Having dreamed of being an engineer since childhood, Owen never anticipated he would abandon his secure career to sell office supplies online. But what started as a side gig rapidly became a profitable and all-encompassing pursuit. Driven and passionate, Owen soon found himself working full-time from his couch, his French bulldog Larry a constant at his side.

It all began with a few boxes of envelopes.

After encountering office supply store sticker shock one too many times, Owen decided to do something about it. He began to dissect how office supply pricing worked, only to find he didn’t understand why things were done a certain way – a way which offered minimal tangible value to customers. So, he began tinkering and experimenting with a process of his own.

He played around with more efficient supply chain strategies and forged new supplier relationships, which enabled him to work directly with competitive factories all over the world.

Armed with the guidance and support of his wife, Tiffany, and his mentors, Owen made it his mission to reinvent the way business was done in the office supply industry. He bought his first 500 boxes of envelopes and listed them on Amazon under the brand name Blue Summit Supplies in September 2016, where they sold out in 27 days.

Now, FCS operates Blue Summit Supplies, a business supply store that manufactures hundreds of products for our expanding catalog of private label office supplies. We have grown considerably since those early days of envelopes, moving into both eCommerce and local retailing realms with plans to bring our modern approach to office, business, restaurant, and school supplies to cities across the southeast – and, eventually, beyond.

A culture of community and growth

In early 2018, Owen hired the first full-time employee for Blue Summit Supplies and moved operations from his living room into an 800-square-foot office. Our team managed to outgrow this initial space within 3 months, and in the summer of that same year, our growing staff moved into our current headquarters in downtown Huntsville. Larry still comes to work with Owen every day and is beloved by the entire FCS team – a team which has more than doubled over the last year thanks to the continued support from our sphere of influence.

As our company continues to grow, we will continue placing the highest priority on our core values and culture, keeping a Golden Rule mentality at the forefront of how we run our day-to-day operations.

We invite you to learn more about our company’s core values and Blue Summit Supplies right here.