School Tool Box named Sycamore Chamber’s 2023 outstanding business

SYCAMORE – In front of the largest crowd to attend Sycamore Chamber of Commerce’s annual luncheon in seven years, School Tool Box, a school supply company based in DeKalb, was named the 2023 Outstanding Business Award winner.

Doug Stice, president and chief executive officer of School Tool Box, 12107 Barber Greene Road in DeKalb, said he started the company from the basement of Shawn’s Coffee Shop in Sycamore in 1999.

“We started selling scissors and glue, and crayons and markers, and I had absolutely no idea where I was going to buy them, how much they were going to cost, how I was going to make anything happen. That first year we worked with 16 schools. The second year I think it was 258 schools,” Stice said.

Stice and his parents delivered school supplies as far away as Minnesota that second year of operation, but as business expanded so did the number of employees on the payroll. That’s who Stice credited for School Tool Box’s success.

“We now work with schools in all 48 states. We do have reps around the country, but the group in my office are amazing people. They are kind, they are caring, and they are passionate. They are high energy, they are high output, and they are highly productive. You don’t go from where we were to being in 48 states without dedication and care like these guys show,” Stice said.

Sycamore Chamber of Commerce Executive Director RoseMarie Treml said the Chamber has 500 active members, with a 91% year-over-year retention rate.

One individual stood out above the rest, however, she said.

Edward “Ed” Leo Kuhn was honored Thursday with the 2023 Clifford Danielson Outstanding Citizen Award. The award – the highest individual honor given by the Sycamore Chamber – wasn’t a surprise for Kuhn, but it still meant a lot.

Kuhn said he needed a counter to brace himself with when Treml told him the news a couple of weeks ago. He said he asked for a list of previous Clifford Danielson Outstanding Citizen Award winners and was humbled to realize the cohort he’s now a part of.

“I was trying to figure out how I was going to justify it,” Kuhn said. “All I can think about is I’m kind of accepting this award for all of you because most of you out here have been on a committee, been on a group working on something I have been working on. So we all work together and they happened to put my name down, but it’s for all of you because we all work to make Sycamore a better place to live.”

The 2023 Community Diamond Award was bestowed to M.C. Beauty, 355 W. State St., Unit 102, in Sycamore.

Megan Meyer, the owner of the downtown Sycamore business, said she was 16 years old and had not attended a single day of beauty school when she dreamed up the business, a beauty salon which also offers spa services.

“More than a decade later, I can’t even believe where I am,” Meyer said. “I know that it is a large part of the fact that I have done it all in Sycamore. I have lived here since I was 3 years old, and I’ve said since I was probably too young to say that I always wanted to stay in Sycamore, raise a family in Sycamore and have a business in Sycamore. And it’s happening, and it’s growing, and I’m making all the things happen, and I know it wouldn’t be happening without the entire community’s support.”

Foster, Buick, Conklin, Lundgren & Gottschalk, LLC – Attorneys at Law was named the 2023 Chamber Champion. The award recognizes a Sycamore Chamber member that has demonstrated outstanding partnership with the Chamber and made exceptional contributions to the Sycamore community, according to the business organization.

Kevin Buick, an attorney at the law firm, said Chicago sports fans aren’t exactly used to hearing champion used as a noun, so he spent some time mulling the word’s uses as a verb.

“Children need champions and so do chambers of commerce, and communities do,” Buick said. “It’s the verb, its champion in that sense, which is a crucial act for a community.”

Champions can come in all shapes, sizes and forms, and the champion of Sycamore Chamber of Commerce’s 2023 Spirit of Small Business award was Chase Goodeill and his company, Pest Control Consultants.

In 2016, Goodeill said he moved his family to Sycamore, from Dixon, a year after he started his business. New to town, he said he employed a mantra his grandfather would tell him.

“I can remember my grandpa telling me, ‘The more hands you shake, the more money you make.’ So I took that advice and I went to work,” Goodeill said. “I started off going door to door selling my pest control services in the Sycamore community. Sycamore, being the great town that it is, was warm to me and welcomed my hard work and business to the community.”