Crites-Watson Office Supply

Crites-Watson Office Supply

Type	Miscellaneous Store Retailers
Industry	Retail
Fate	Dissolved
Founded	Wooster, Ohio (1955 (1955))
Founder(s)	R. Clare Watson and Earl Crites
Headquarters	Wooster, Ohio, United States
Number of locations	220 E. Liberty St., Wooster, Ohio
Area served	Wayne County, Ohio
Key people	R. Clare Watson; Earl Crites; Larry Watson; Russell Watson; Nevin Numbers

Locations

• last 220 E. Liberty St., Wooster, Ohio 44691
• formerly 127 E. Liberty St., Wooster, Ohio 44691
• formerly 140 E. Liberty St., Wooster, Ohio 44691
• formerly 135 E. Liberty St., Wooster, Ohio 44691
• original 144 E. Liberty St., Wooster, Ohio 44691

Phone Number

• 264-3085, 263-7851

Comprehensive History

R. Clare Watson dated 1946.

Earl Crites dated 1946.

In 1955, R. Clare Watson and Earl Crites, two former employees of the City Book Store, formed a partnership to establish their own office supply store that would be known as Crites-Watson Office Supply. They established a store at 220 E. Liberty St. in Wooster, Ohio which later became part of the Daily Record building complex. As the business grew it became necessary to relocate to a bigger space at 135 E. Liberty St. This location later became the home of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association. The partners operated at this location until 1969 when they purchased and improved the building at 140 E. Liberty St.

In 1972, Clare Watson purchased Earl Crites' interest in the business and by 1974 had expanded the business to include a print shop and a larger office furniture and equipment showroom in the building across the street at 127 E. Liberty St., the former Crum Drug Store location. By 1983 the business needing even more space was moved to 144 E. Liberty St. to occupy the former Newberry building.

At the businesses height the company employed as many as 20 employees and served a four-county area with a complete line of office equipment and supplies. Two of R. Clare Watson's sons, Larry and Russell Watson, and a son-in-law Nevin Numbers were also involved in the business for a number of years.

Gallery

Historical documents

• Wooster, Ohio Sesquicentennial Celebration, June 14-21, 1958, p. 103.

Newspaper articles

Newspaper ads

• 

  ad. This ad is from the Daily Record on 31 October 1967 on page 40 of the special section detailing Wooster companies.

What Links Here

• Historic Downtown Wooster ‎ (← links)