We are proud of our legacy as we honor those who have helped us reach this historic milestone.
In 1946 our founder, David Einstein, worked as a Facilities Manager for Brewster Aeronautics – a war plane manufacturer – decommissioning the plant. When the time had come to vacate the building, David was told to scrap what was still remaining. Instead, David negotiated to take for himself everything that was left. With a truckload of miscellaneous and unrelated items, he traveled from Long Island City, New York to Philadelphia and started Commercial Surplus Company. In doing so, David found that office furniture was his best seller. David began to specialize in office furniture and his Commercial Office Furniture Company was born.
In the early 50’s, after the war, David added new furniture lines as products became available. In 1952 COFCO became a dealer for ASE (All Steel Equip). Proudly, COFCO remains the longest-tenured Allsteel dealer in the country.
In conjunction with the move of our headquarters to a brand new building at 5th and Spring Garden in Philadelphia in 1985, the company rebranded and shortened its name to COFCO.
Over the years, the leadership was organically passed on to son Alan Einstein, and ultimately to our current CEO, Joan Waters. Only three “captains” in 75 years—all who preached and continue to practice the same core values.
United leadership is one of the many important reasons we have maintained our continuity and enjoyed solid growth.
In 2019 COFCO extended its reach into the Mid-Atlantic region by acquiring two smaller Allsteel Dealerships in Annapolis and Washington DC. These dealerships, aligned with the same core values and success in both the government and commercial markets, were combined and are what we now call “COFCO South”.
Today COFCO remains headquartered in its Philadelphia Resource Center along with our beautiful new offices in Washington DC.
COFCO is proud of what we have accomplished, what we stand for, and where we are headed. We thank all our colleagues–past and present, our vendors, and of course our loyal clients who have supported us and continue to contribute to our great success.
