Yoobi
| Private[1] | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | School, home, and office supplies |
| Founded 📆 | 2014 |
| Founder 👔 | Ido Leffler |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , United States[1] |
Area served 🗺️ | United States |
Key people | Ido Leffler (co-founder & CEO) Lance Kalish (co-founder and chairman) Justin Wolff (chief giving officer) |
| Products 📟 | Notebooks, binders, pencils, pens, cutting tools, staplers, adhesives, backpacks |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 11–50[1] |
| 🌐 Website | yoobi |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Yoobi is an American school, home, and office supply company. Founded in 2014 by Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish, it aims to donate items to American schools for every sale made. Its products are available from Target stores and a store owned by company itself in Arcadia, California. Its profit and donation numbers have continued to increase over time since its founding. It has also collaborated with multiple celebrities and Marvel Studios.
History[edit]
Yoobi was co-founded in 2014 by Israeli-born Australian-American entrepreneur — and the company's CEO — Ido Leffler (born 1977)[2] and Australian entrepreneur Lance Kalish, the company's chairman.[lower-alpha 1][4][5] Justin Wolff, a former paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces, also worked alongside Leffler to help start the project, obtaining the title of "chief giving officer".[6] By 2021, Yoobi was one of five businesses the pair had created.[4] Leffler was inspired to start the company after noticing that American teachers were often forced to buy their own classroom supplies, and that there was, in his view, a general lack of creatively-designed supplies.[2] He also recalled the struggles his family had faced in the 1990s, when his parents could not afford his supplies after the failure of his father's real estate business, and how his mother, a teacher, was forced to buy them with her own money.[7] He thought of the name Yoobi while taking a shower, from the words "you be". The company partnered with Target, due to Leffler's support of their policies and practices. The company's business model is designed to give one item to an American classroom for each sale made, a concept it calls "one for you, one for me".[2]
Yoobi began selling items through Target in June 2014.[8] In June 2015, after previously only selling items through Target stores, Yoobi opened the first shop of its own at Westfield Santa Anita, a mall in Arcadia, California.[9] In October of that year, the business had reached 20 million USD in sales.[7] In 2017, it achieved US$100 million from retail sales at Target stores.[2] In 2018, Wolff claimed that Yoobi had experienced double-digit year-over-year growth.[6] In 2021, it had donated 77 million school supplies to over 6 million students.[4] The number of supplies donated, as well as the number of students and classrooms helped, can be tracked on Yoobi's official website.[10]
Products[edit]
Yoobi claims to provide over 450 different items.[1] Its colorful supplies are designed to encourage creativity, according to Leffler.[8] They include backpacks, binders, glue, lunch boxes, notebooks, pens, pencils, and water bottles.[11] In 2021, it launched a collection of Marvel-themed equipment.[12]
Activity, impact, and criticism[edit]
Yoobi has collaborated with Pharrell,[13] Zendaya,[14] and Marvel Studios.[12] Bowen Yang has praised their notebooks for writing down ideas.[15] As of 2022, the company has donated throughout the contiguous United States, as well as in Puerto Rico.[10] The concept has faced some criticism, according to Cornell scholar Chris Marquis, as it only attempts to improve the "symptoms" of social issues, rather than the root cause (in this instance, underfunded schools). However, Marquis noted that Yoobi's goal can still be quite effective at combating those symptoms.[7]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Kalish has been referred to as Israeli in an article by The Electronic Intifada.[3]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Yoobi". LinkedIn. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Shulman, Robyn D. "Back To School: How Yoobi Recently Passed $100 Million In Retail Sales At Target Stores Nationwide". Forbes. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ Abunimah, Ali (2 January 2013). "Why is cosmetics brand "Yes to Carrots" trying to hide its ties to Israel?". The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Schwab, Adam (25 May 2021). "Yes To Carrots (and more): How Ido Leffler became one of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs". SmartCompany. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ Kalish, Lance. "Lance Kalish". LinkedIn. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hessekiel, David. "A Visit With Justin Wolff, Chief Giving Officer, Yoobi". Forbes. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Pitt, Sofia. "Businesses that give back: A new school of thought". CNBC. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Yoobi's Cool-for-School Supplies Give Back to Students in Need". People. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ Alcala, Natalie (22 June 2015). "Colorful Kids Stationery Supplier Yoobi Opens First IRL Store at Westfield Santa Anita". Racked LA. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Our Impact". Yoobi. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ "Collections". Yoobi. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Marvel Teams Up With Yoobi For New Back-To-School Essentials Collection". LaughingPlace.com. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ Craddock, Lauren; Craddock, Lauren (12 August 2016). "Pharrell Is 'Betting on the Future' With New Back-to-School Collection". Billboard. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ "Zendaya and Yoobi Team Up to Give Back to Oakland". Look to the Stars. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ↑ Yang, Bowen. "Cheap(ish) Thrills: Bowen Yang's Favorite Everyday Things". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
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