COMPANY SAW WRITING ON THE WALL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993                   TAG: 9303200085
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
COMPANY SAW WRITING ON THE WALL
When Marcia Saunders bought Blue Ridge Sign & Stamp from her parents seven years ago, the company had a lot of its eggs in one basket: Dominion Bank, for which it was making engraved signs, rubber stamps and vinyl lettering in considerable quantity.
Saunders immediately moved to broaden the company's customer base. Her foresight paid off when Dominion was bought by Charlotte's First Union Bank.
Blue Ridge Sign & Stamp will lose the bank's account. But among the many suppliers of goods and services to Dominion, her company is one that will survive.
"I, for some reason, have felt this was coming for about the last two years," she said.
Dominion orders began declining steadily in December, according to Saunders, but the roster of other clients already had begun to grow apace.
"It's like watching your business come in the door and go out the door at the same time," she said.
Blue Ridge Sign & Stamp has grown by a minimum of 40 percent every year since being taken over by Saunders, who describes herself as the company's "president, owner, janitor, secretary and whatever else is needed."
It was started in the basement of her Blue Ridge home, but soon will have a place on Virginia 419 with more space and the greater visibility that a growing business needs.
There are four employees, including Saunders and her husband. One is moving from part-time to full-time status and the other is getting more work hours all the time.
Sales have reached about $100,000 per year, and customers now include such blue-chippers as Norfolk Southern Corp. and ITT.
Saunders has come to know many of the Dominion employees who are losing their jobs, and she said it was their plight that helped motivate her to strengthen the position of her company.
"I have two really good employees who don't deserve to be laid off because a big company went out of business," she said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB