Covid-19 lockdown crippled most businesses earlier this year but the consequences were swifter and more severe for some. Dublin business Tára Slevin Group saw two of its five divisions grind to a halt when offices closed.

Established in 1982 and employing 14 people, the family business sells branded promotional products such as pens and office supplies. Other business divisions include business gifts, print and design, diaries and calendars, and medical supplies.

“Our office supplies and business gifts divisions went dead during lockdown,” says Eddie Slevin, managing director of Tára Slevin. “I don’t see the office supplies division coming back into shape until perhaps February 2021.”

Up until the onset of the pandemic, Tára Slevin’s medical supplies division had been a steady background player in the overall company structure, supplying disposable slippers, blood pressure cuffs and other equipment to hospitals. During the summer, it had to take centre stage.

“When the Covid-19 outbreak took hold, we put our minds together and decided to expand our medical supplies,” Eddie Slevin explains. “We added sanitisers, face masks and other items, which saw business grow by 60% through June and July. By moving quickly we got a lot of good sales.

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“We have a good man running our medical products division. He supplies a few hospitals, so to the regular supply that we have for those hospitals, he was able to add on any new products they wanted: vinyl gloves, silk gloves, aprons and the plastic masks.

“Since then, everybody has gotten into hand sanitiser and mask production, so we’re going move out of the low-value equipment. We will sell whatever stock we have left and continue selling any in-demand items. Rather than the unprofitable running around, we will let our medical supplies division naturally settle back into its usual shape.”

While Tára Slevin continues to suffer the body blow of a still-static office supplies sector, Eddie is evaluating the ongoing situation caused by the coronacrisis.

“There are opportunities to grow business during this pandemic, particularly in added-value products. Businesses are also increasingly asking for face masks printed with their logos or other images. We are very capable of moving into that promotional aspect of things.

“We managed to make the most of our existing business by delivering new products along with our regular medical supplies trade. We couldn’t do it without the excellent efforts of our team. Some work from home and others from the office – maintaining crystal communications also helped a lot.”

For now, Tára Slevin’s other divisions are gearing up for a busy winter. “Business gifts and diaries/calendars are at their prime now – we’ve already sent out half of our delivery orders for the year.

“Our diaries/calendars division properly starts in August, although the products we use are manufactured in January. We’re now putting the finishing touches to these products, such as logos and branded title pages etc. We are doing a lot of bespoke designs this year.”

Photo: Eddie Slevin (centre) with daughter Rachel Slevin and nephew Kevin Kelly