Bill Papierniak will run the store in Innsbrook, Virginia after having managed Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team.
Bill Papierniak (Credit: Richmond Bizsense/ Jonathan Spiers)
Richmond Bizsense reported on Papierniak’s career change, which will see the former baseball manager take over the Cartridge World store in Innsbrook, Richmond after 17 years in the sport, with his last role General Manager for minor league team Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Papierniak stated that the change would “allow him a more manageable schedule and more time at home with his family”, and bought the Cartridge World franchise in February after a colleague of his wife “alerted him to the opportunity”, taking over from Charles and Jill Gayle, who were the first franchisees for the store from 2004 onwards.
Reflecting on the career change, Papierniak noted that the two businesses “do share some similarities”, with the Cartridge World store having “a retail presence, and at the same time, it’s a little more business-to-business focused, which kind of allows me to utilise some of my contacts in the community and hopefully hit the ground running”.
He added that “there wasn’t a connection to cartridges. There wasn’t a ‘how I loved ink’ or anything like that. It was just more looking at the business as a whole, thinking I could utilise some of my skillset to grow it. And at the same time, it was a really well-run business”. In terms of the baseball team, he added that “I haven’t been able to go to a game truly as a fan, without looking at things through a different set of glasses, in a long, long time. So that’ll be exciting for me”.
The store will also allow him to “be able to sit back, spend more time” with his children and allow them to say “’My dad’s the one that’s right there watching me do this’” as opposed to “’My dad’s the one with the cool job’”.