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Article Launched: 01/26/2010 10:28:48 PM PST	Vol. 127, No. 4 Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Los Gatos business has taken many twists and turns

By Marianne L. Hamilton

Jon Robertson has always been fond of ice cream. In a way, the chilly treat was responsible for his success: Had his father not moved from San Francisco to do the books for the old Eatmore Ice Cream factory (later Meadow Gold) in Los Gatos, Robertson's assumption of the family business might have had a decidedly different ... well, flavor.

After crisscrossing the U.S. (while barely in his 20s) to perform tax audits at such firms as Price Waterhouse, Paramount Studios and General Motors Acceptance Corporation, Raymond Glen Robertson met and married the woman he deemed "beautiful and vivacious," Edith Brookover.

While Edith earned her teaching credential at San Francisco State, Raymond toiled over the books for various employers. Wishing to pay off the emerald wedding ring and the Buick he'd purchased -- both on time -- for his bride, Raymond was eager to bring home a higher salary. He spied a newspaper ad seeking an office-credit manager at Eatmore. Soon Robertson was living in the South Bay; Fridays found Edith hopping one of the trains that would deliver her to "the country," and then returning on Sunday nights.

Five years after their marriage Robertson took on some side jobs, doing the taxes for several established local businesses. One of the companies looked so promising that Robertson took a crucial left turn in his career: He traded his suspenders and neckties for a tall white hat, and purchased the Polly Prim Bakery (whose namesake was the towering parrot that graced the neon sign on the front of the building), located at 55 N. Santa Cruz, now the home of Sprockets. Though the bakery had flourished for more than 30 years, Robertson soon found its operation required a round-the-clock investment of energy. Toting heavy sacks of flour and other ingredients during the day was physically demanding, and at night the new baker also pored over the books. There were other challenges as well. "World War II was still going on, and sugar and cooking oil were being rationed," says Jon Robertson, his youngest son (now the owner of 1-800-ProColor, Inc., and the brand-new Just Color Printing).

After 10 years toiling over the ovens, Robertson sold Polly Prim Bakery by placing an ad in a national trade magazine, which trumpeted his own text: "A dream bakery in a dream town, in the state of your dreams, California!" Max Ackerman of New York, formerly head baker to Queen Wilhelmina of Holland and King Farouk of Egypt, purchased the operation.

Mortgaging his home for the fourth time he became the proprietor of Los Gatos Sewing Machines on Main Street. Fortunately, Edith had a steady income teaching at Lone Hill and Vineland Schools, because business was initially lackluster. But in time Robertson was able to acquire a larger space on N. Santa Cruz Ave., and renamed his company Los Gatos Office Equipment & Supply.

Los Gatos Office Equipment became one of the largest Olympia dealerships of its time. Jon still remembers the day his father showed him the inner workings of the top-of-the-line typewriters they sold.

"He sat me down and showed me the 12 points of interest in the machines. He'd go clockwise and work his way around the whole inside. Later on, customers were sometimes amused to find themselves buying rather expensive equipment from a 15-year-old boy who seemed to know a lot about business machines."

In the early 1970s Jon took over the store's daily operations. At about the same time he started selling copy machines, which in those days were slow and used a "wet" process with light-sensitive paper.

Customers sometimes asked to make a copy or two on the demo equipment, and since there were no "copy centers" at the time, Jon willingly obliged. Then he learned about a new process that produced dry, "plain paper" copies.

Soon enough, Los Gatos Office Equipment was churning out reams of reproductions for local businesses and consumers. So popular did the service prove to be that the Robertsons once again expanded their operation, moving to the corner of N. Santa Cruz Ave. and Bean, where J. Crew stands today.

Alas, the emergence of big-box stores had a severe impact on the company's bottom line. "Stores like Price Club, Office Depot and Staples changed the retail landscape forever," Jon Robertson notes. "Eventually I figured out I was in a losing battle and sold everything but the copy center, which became the core of my business." The name was then changed to the Los Gatos Copy Center.

Five years later, when black and white copying became commoditized, Jon Robertson changed his business model yet again. He moved the company to 59 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite B. "I'd seen this movie before, so I stepped ... sideways. I invested heavily in state-of-the-art digital color equipment, and renamed the company 1-800-ProColor to reflect the new focus," Robertson says.

He talked a local designer into coaching him through the first two years. He proved an avid student, with his company next morphing into a full-color design and print center. To this day ProColor remains a thriving business, and one of the most respected in the Los Gatos community.

Jon Robertson