Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503180026
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Wilson managed Krisch Printing Co. for 15 years but it was due to close this year because of the bankruptcy of the hotel businesses for which it produced everything from menus to brochures.
"I bought my job, basically," Wilson, 43, said last week.
He and his partner, Gary Melton, had discussed owning a business for several years and were pushed to go ahead with it by the circumstances of Krisch Printing.
Melton has run Roanoke Reprographics on Aerial Way Drive for five years.
The new company will be named Roanoke Reprographics & Printing and they believe it will be unlike any shop in the state in terms of the range of services it can provide.
They will continue a lease on the former Krisch Printing quarters at 129 Salem Ave. in downtown Roanoke, but are spending upwards of $200,000 to get the new business open. That includes $35,000 paid for Krisch Printing, renovations to the space and moving equipment from Melton's company to the refurbished quarters.
Roanoke Reprographics will remain at Aerial Way Drive until June 1, but workers are shuttling back and forth to crosstrain. Melton's company specialized in blueprints and other printed material for architects and engineers. Krisch Printing was a general print shop that could handle up to full color work.
"See what I can offer an architect by way of services now?" said Melton.
The Salem Avenue site has 4,800 square feet on two floors and will house 10 employees once the merger of operations is complete.
Melton and Wilson have both been in printing since they graduated from high school. Melton, 33, previously was a co-owner of Pro/Blue print shop in Virginia Beach, his home town. That shop also specialized in work for architects and engineers so he stuck with idea when he moved to Roanoke to help an ill grandmother.
Wilson trained in printing at Roanoke's now-defunct Jefferson High School and has been with Krisch since 1970. Half of his current staff also learned the trade in Roanoke public schools, he said.
The owners are trying to keep the transition smooth for staffers although the former Krisch employees have encountered some changes in benefits. Some of them were eligible for up to seven weeks paid vacation with their previous employer, and Wilson said he and Melton couldn't afford that.
"We asked them to work with us until we can get going," Wilson said.
Melton and Wilson will serve as their own sales staff since both already have contact with clients and believe a front-line position for the owners will be a plus in completing jobs efficiently and correctly.
"If I'm out there I can make a decision," Wilson said.
Last year, Krisch Printing had $350,000 in gross sales, a fourth of it for the bankrupt Krisch hotels. It was not one of the company's strongest years since its future was uncertain with the closing of the Krisch businesses, Wilson said. Melton's sales volume was close to that.
Already he and Melton are marketing the capabilities of a digital full-color printer that they expect to become a major component of their success. The front window signage was produced on the printer. It can deliver a single poster at a price much lower than the several hundred dollars it costs to generate the first copy of a poster using more traditional printing techniques, Melton said.
Wilson has contacted at least one veterinary hospital proposing that it team with Roanoke Reprographics to market posters of pets made from home snapshots.
Melton hopes too that competitors of the NASCAR racer his company sponsors will see the nice, big logo he produced for its hood and want one for their cars.
He and Melton are worrying about the usual startup things - like getting business cards printed - but they're not anxious about how well the business will do.
"The least of my concerns is whether we will make it or not," Wilson said. "I know we will."
by CNB