Vancouver-based print shop survives by expanding during recession
Last August, as retail unemployment hit 16 percent in Washington state, Minuteman Press owner Jeanne Jolivette did what for some small stores was unthinkable – she expanded her business.
Open for 13 years in Vancouver, Minuteman Press focuses on print services for businesses and for special events like weddings and birthdays. And like many other retailers, Jolivette struggled with a dip in sales when the recession hit in December 2007.
So for Jolivette, the decision last summer to move from a smaller location on Fourth Plain Boulevard to a larger space in nearby Evergreen Plaza was one of many risks – which this month finally seemed to be paying off, she said.
"We survived by going out there to find work, rather than cowering in fear of the recession and waiting for it to end," said the store's manager, Russell Kofford.
The move, which tripled the printer's floor space to 3,900 square feet, followed Minuteman's strategy of aggressiveness during down economic cycles, according to Kofford.
And it has worked, she said. According to Jolivette, revenue in 2009 had fallen 35 percent since hitting an all-time high in 2007. However, since the move to Evergreen Plaza, revenue has been on a continuing climb, she said.
In addition to its increased retail footprint, Minuteman added new, high-end printing equipment, which Kofford said gives them a leg up on advanced home computer printing software.
"People can do many of these things at home, but they aren't cost effective," Kofford said. "Photos turn out great, but mailers not so much."
Jolivette, along with husband, Larry Browning, also added a mailing service to the new location to compete with services offered at FedEx Office, formerly Kinko's, as well as other "one-stop" printing and mailing shops.
"We get lots of referrals now from them, since they don't really do specialty prints like we do," she said.
Jolivette estimated that when she started the business in 1997 there were 28 print service stores in Vancouver. That number has fallen to less than half – a fact Jolivette attributes to the recent recession.
"The attrition of competitors is a tough thing to watch, since we were a close community," she said.
Jolivette sees this sense of community as the cure to the recession, mirroring the thoughts of many participants of February's Southwest Washington Shop Local Business Showcase, noting that Clark County residents spent $915 million dollars in Portland annually.
"Spending money in Clark County will help us all do better," Jolivette said.
