The Culmer family has been in the fine writing business since 1931 when Tierney’s grandfather, Charles Culmer took his flourishing fascination for fountain pens and joined the Waterman Company in St-Hubert. After 23 years with Waterman he had more than an “inkling” of what he was doing and opened his own pen store in 1954.
Joined by his wife Yvette & eventually her sons & daughters in-law, the Peel Pen Shop Inc. enjoyed more than 54 years of successful business in the heart of downtown Montreal.
MAINTAINING A LEGACY AND EMBRACING CHANGE
With a paralleled fascination & keen knowledge of the writing instrument industry, Robert Culmer took the family business to another level when he began a distribution company in 1980. Together with his wife Barbara, they represented several well known brand names and were responsible for their sales & distribution across Canada under the Culmer Distributors Inc. banner. Today, the distribution business continues to represent many of the finest brands available to both the retail & promotional marketplaces.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Finally into the third generation, (on average only 4% of family businesses survive to the third generation) Tierney spun the sales of writing instruments into yet another direction with the creation of Culmer Pen. Aimed specifically at promotional marketing, the company is responsible for the design, manufacture, import & decoration of writing instruments. Today, Culmer Pen remains focused on what they do best: PENS AND ONLY PENS. Although the product mix is niche oriented & may not be as diversified as the competition, one thing is for sure: from generation to generation the company has managed to be successful and has remained true to its promise of producing high-quality, unique writing instruments that are to be considered for the longest time….
When you ask Tierney why they are successful as a family and business, she is quick to say, “We all genuinely love what we do, and we all share a strong work ethic. We truly enjoy knowing we’ve been a part of helping customers build their brands.”