Novey Bag Company officially became a startup back in 1959. Don Novey, had been in the business of buying and supplying industrial bags for almost 20 years, when he took the chance and started out on his own.
The first home for Novey Bag was an old abandoned building with no heat, electricity, or any comforts of the modern office. Don’s wife was his secretary and bookkeeper. But with the help of his vendors and customers, over the years he was able to expand Novey Bag and finally move into an old warehouse. The warehouse was located on Armitage and Ashland in Chicago with room for a couple desks, phones, and inventory.
Stephen Novey, Don’s son, worked in the Bag Business throughout high school on his days off and in college during summer breaks. After a career in teaching for few years, his father asked Steve to join him in his business. In the early 70s Steve finally joined Novey Bag full time and began as an outside Bag salesman. By then Novey Bag Company had moved to Iron St. in the Stockyards area of Chicago. Until then, much of the business was new and used cloth bags such as burlap, sisal, and kenaf, usually imported. Paper bags were only one part of the business. Steve could see this was the future, and eventually built it up such that by the 90s the paper bag business dominated. With Steve’s chemistry background he was able to help customers determine which bag would be best for their food products, plumbing supplies, agriculture and garden supplies, chemicals, and building supplies. Plastic bags evolved into their own strong market segment by this time as well. Steve personally visited all the vendors to better understand the manufacturing process, and also visit our customers in order to understand their business and help choose the best bag for their needs.
Steve’s son Joshua Novey has also grown up working in Novey Bag Company throughout high school and college. After working as a manager for a family owned construction business for several years,Steve appealed to him to join the company. We are now into our third generation of our family business. Joshua brings a lot of administrative skills and customer service skills, and has started to go out and visit our customers, and help them with the best bag choices for their needs. Steve Novey passed away in 2018, and Joshua has taken over the reins of the company.
As we move forward, we offer the ability to warehouse large orders, so you do not have to store them all at once. You can order similar sizes to what we carry in stock with your printing on it. Lead times vary throughout the industry. We work with many manufacturers and packaging companies to find you the best quality bags with the best lead times we can source.
Novey Bag looks forward to serving as your bag supplier for many years to come, certainly throughout the 21st Century. We remain lean, nimble and eager.Yours truly,
Joshua Novey, President
Novey Bag Company