History

In 1986 Paul & Barbara Horan founded SKS Bottle & Packaging Inc., named after their three sons Steven, Kendall & Shaun.  Paul brought to the garage home base business, 12 years of packaging experience and a lifetime of entrepreneurship. 

From its inception, SKS began selling labels and served as a wholesaler distributor for glass and plastic bottles along with associated closures.  Paul would make sales calls, hand-write orders on sell sheets, package and deliver orders, while Barbara worked the home office, phones and took care of 3 young boys.  Their primary focus always was and remains to “take care of our customers” and to provide the best service & products possible.  This meant that orders would need to be shipped on time and received with the utmost satisfaction.  As time passed and clients grew, SKS was able maintain larger inventories and add more products including glass jars, plastic jars, metal cans and tins.  The business growth from 1986 thru 1990 required them to relocate 8 different times, to larger buildings/warehouses.  Finally building a 15,000 sq foot building in Malta, NY in 1990. 

Though SKS is a family business there were many skilled and dedicated individuals over the years that contributed to the company’s growth and success.  A company’s success as with SKS can be measured by the contributions of the employees. 

The importance of environmental conservation/sustainability was inspired by the many customers SKS was servicing and for the passion in their regional environment of upstate NY.  In 1994 SKS made the switch from white shipping boxes, to natural brown, to now recycled cardboard boxes, and they minimized ink and use pre-grind resins.  To help keep overstocked and discontinued bottles and jars out of landfills, SKS began offering customers a free mystery bag with these containers. 

The twentieth century brought on many changes in global commerce and SKS embraced new technology and developed a comprehensive on-line, web-based catalogue.  The web catalog gradually replaced the printed catalog and mail order process.   Of the many benefits of on-line shopping, SKS was able to expand their sales radius to cover the globe, add new products quicker and increase efficiency.   Paul’s vision of an online store in the mid 1990’s gave SKS an advantage, being one of the first bottle companies to the ecommerce market.  As competitors were looking overseas for products to reduce costs, SKS recognized the quality in American manufacturing and continued to purchase inventories directly from USA manufactures.

Keeping customer service a top priority, SKS strived to ship all orders within 24 hours.  This demand required SKS to maintain higher inventory levels and enlist reliable shipping companies.  In addition, SKS began modeling their products to promote the variety of finishing options available for different industries.  SKS offers a variety of decorating options to complete the entire packaging needs.  In addition to supplying containers and closures, SKS specialize in multi-color silk screening and thermal labeling.  SKS also began offering industry specific pages and provided many valuable resources for entrepreneur’s or even do-it-yourselfer’s including books, packaging equipment and instructional videos.  

In 2005, SKS required relocation to a 52,000 sq ft warehouse/business space.  A space they presently occupy in Watervliet, NY, which has expanded again to 72,000 sq ft.   With the success of on-line shopping and more efficient operations, SKS as been able to reduce minimum sales order threshold, and in 2010, the company was able to offer free shipping on all orders over $250.00.