About Us

About Us

Our purpose is to make our customers happy.

We’ve built our long-standing reputation on the premise that our growth and success depend on yours. Only the highest level of one-on-one personal involvement, guidance, and service can yield the kind of growth, profits, cost-efficiencies, and success both you expect.   That’s the kind of personal attention and responsiveness from start to finish you could only expect from a business that built its reputation for superior customer service over the past seven decades.

At Continental, there are no automated attendants. Why? Because we believe in good old fashion service; people serving people. We don't look at technology as a means of replacing our people, but rather as a means of providing them more ready-to-use information so that they will be better prepared to answer your questions when you call.

Our History

Continental Packaging Solutions’ history in packaging distribution is as long as it is illustrious.  From meager beginnings in depression-era Chicago to the modern day headquarters in the bustling loop, Continental has never been far from the center of the exciting world of packaging.

In 1936, Nathan Rosenstone, along with William Biltzstein, Harold Fishbein, and Morris Allentuck founded  Continental Glass Company which began operations with office space and a warehouse at 524 West Erie Street in Chicago.

The core of the business was supplying glass bottles to the beverage industry from Glenshaw Glass to companies such as Pepsi Cola, 7-Up, Doctor Pepper, and a group of small beverage manufacturers.

At that time there were also a number of small rectifiers in Chicago.  A major customer from this group was the Jim Beam Distillery Company.  Another major customer at that time was The Real Lemon Co.  These companies, along with the beverage manufacturers, represented the core of Continental’s business.

The following year the Company moved to 841 West Cermak Road, and remained there until the company moved in 2005 to its present address at 230 West Monroe Street.

In 1948 Sheldon Berman joined the company, and in 1950 Jerome Rosenstone joined the company,  as well as Howard Gilbert joining the company in 1954. 

In the early years of Continental, business was built through the formation of long-term relationships.  Many customers had close, personal relationships the owners, buyers, and sales people of Continental; relationships that went beyond simple business transactions. 

Continental soon found footholds not only in the beverage and liquor industry, but in other areas such as health and beauty, including industry pioneer Helene Curtis. 

Although many customers were based on personal relationship the company realized that “service” was an integral part of the business and value added services were able to attract new and larger customers such as Abbott Labs, Kraft Food, and Baxter Labs.  One of the large customers that Nathan Rosenstone worked with was a vinegar Company in Michigan called Steffen Vinegar.

Continental’s influence continued to grow and it was awarded the exclusive distributorship of Owens Illinois products for its region which greatly expanded their product offerings.

Shortly after World War II in 1947 Jules Montenier, a chemist working with engineers from the Plax Corporation, invented a commercial use for the plastic bottle.  His creation was the “Stopette”, an underarm deodorant dispensed by squeezing the bottle.  This one bottle created an explosion in the industry for the plastic bottle.  Plastic competed with glass for the first time, and in the 1970’s Continental changed its name to Continental Glass and Plastic, Inc. to better reflect their capabilities.

Plastic bottle technology continued to evolve at Plax which eventually was purchased by Monsanto and is now called Silgan Plastics.

In 1961 the company went into the commercial decorating of glassware at the Cermak Road location.  They hired a woman named Meta Armour who was a nationally known designer to create design for glassware (tumblers, old fashions, apothecary shapes, bath room sets) work with companies such as Marshall Field and Co. in Chicago and many small giftware stores.

In the early 60’s and Continental began its nationwide expansion, and opened a branch office in Indianapolis in 1971.

Other branches followed with Continental opening offices and warehouses in St. Louis and Milwaukee in 1981.

In the early 1980s, Nathan Rosenstone retired from active participation in the company and the day-to-day business was managed by CEO Jerry Rosenstone.  Jerry handled the financial elements and glass purchasing and continued to maintain the long relationship with Glenshaw Glass, Jim Beam and Real Lemon.

Sheldon Berman was responsible for daily operations as President and purchasing specifically plastic and closures.  Howard Gilbert became Executive VP and primarily managed the Helene Curtis and Abbott Labs accounts.

In 1984 Continental opened offices in Cincinnati and Los Angeles.

In 1988 the Giesen Family assumed control of Continental, and has run the company ever since.  Joined by Mark Giesen in 1990, the Giesens looked for other companies in the industry to acquire and in 1998 purchased National Packaging, a distributor based in the Columbus, Ohio area.

Through this purchase, Continental grew the company to include offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Louisville Kentucky.  Expansion continued by opening offices in Boston in 1994 and Minneapolis in 1995. 

Continental continues to grow today though expansion and now has offices coast-to-coast with its headquarters in Chicago, and branch offices in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Columbus Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles.

In 2004, Asian manufacturing was seen as a strategic target, and by 2005 Continental opened an office in mainland China.  “Continental Global”, as it is now known, continues to grow as a major part of Continental's strategy.

Good working relationships with it’s customers continues to be a cornerstone of Continental’s work, but more than ever so does a strong offering of value-added services.  Today, Continental proudly touts a broad range of capabilities to include design services, innovation services, warehousing, and logistics management as well as turnkey packaging supply.

 

Copyright 2008, Continental Packaging Solutions, Inc.