“David has assisted us through the first 2 years of owning the business after our succession plan implementation with great success. We really look forward to our planning meetings and it is reassuring to receive such sound advice that allows us to put into place our solid business plan.”
EDSCO is one of the largest educational supply businesses in Queensland. The company has an extensive range of educational products, ranging from text books to hands-on resources to stationery to charts and stickers for teachers to use in the classroom.
The business has an 800m2 air-conditioned shop in north Brisbane, attached to a substantial warehouse facility and offices. It has several salespeople servicing Queensland schools and caters for schools, teachers and parents.
EDSCO is a family business established in 1985 by the parents of the current owner Michael and his wife, Susan Young. Michael and Susan took over full control of the business in 2013, which was the culmination of a 5 year succession plan.
de Blonk Smith Young assisted the family members through the succession plan process, which occurred during difficult times in the retail market.
With Michael’s 29 years working in the business and Susan’s background as a school teacher and educational book author, they have spent the last 2 years working hard to learn all the facets of managing the sizeable business at the same time as developing and implementing their own strategies for the future of the business.
“We employ 20 full time and 45 part time people across the year, have around 20,000 teachers and schools holding accounts with us and hold over 20,000 stock lines” notes Michael, “David from de Blonk Smith Young has assisted us through our first 2 years of owning the business with great success. We really look forward to our planning meetings and it is so reassuring to receive such sound advice that allows us to put into place our solid business plan.”

Inside the EDSCO shop
One of the focus areas of the business for Michael and Susan has been the growth of bookpacks. EDSCO has a dedicated team of people who assist at year end in packing around 20,000 bookpacks for a range of schools across Queensland.
With that happening at their busiest time of the year (back to school) the entire EDSCO team puts in a huge effort to make sure customer service is maintained at a high standard. “We pride ourselves on being a company that can be relied on to deliver” says Michael “and we regularly get a lot of great feedback from schools, which is a credit to our entire team”.
If you have a child in primary school it is very likely they either have an EDSCO packed bookpack or you have been in the shop in Kedron!
If you would like more information on EDSCO or their product range, please visit their website www.edsco.com.au or their FaceBook page: facebook.com/edsco.
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