53% of Sign Managers Think Their Company Will Reach 100 Years in Business

QUESTION:

Do you think your sign company will reach 100 years in business?

Yes: 53%

For 25 years they told us, we wouldn’t make it. I’m gonna need at least 75 to show them we did. — Jason Schrodi, Fastsigns Clear Lake, Webster, TX
This is year 38 and my son is taking over in five years. — Paul Havenaar, Sign Impressions, Kalamazoo, MI
We plan to hand the business off to a family member, or sell to an out-of-state customer. — Ali Pournourbakhsh, Vector Sign Solutions, Noblesville, IN
We’re almost at 70 now, and I have a young team that loves our company and wants it to continue. — Sharon Toji, H Toji and Co., Lakewood, CA
We have been in business for 75 years (started in Cuba, 1948) and it is a family business. I have run the business for the past 33 years and my daughter, who is 30, has been involved since graduating from college in 2014. Hopefully, she will also turn the business over to her children. — Harold Pedley, Sign Engineering, San Juan, PR

Early Adopter: National Sign Corp. (Seattle), founded 1915, began offering neon in 1928.

No: 47%

My kiddos are not interested in the business so once my partner and I go, that will be it. — Gwen Snow, Innovative Sign Systems, Vista, CA
As a one-person shop, I don’t expect this operation to last 100 years. — Brian Mortvedt, Westwood Graphics Co., Hewitt, WI
The right individuals would be needed to carry on the business. — William Hylton, Cardinal Blueprinters, Blacksburg, VA
The community we are operating in has limited local ownership. — Derrick Weinbrecht, Creative Signs & Design, Topeka, KS
I’m 57 now… — Kenneth Pease, KP Graphix, Groton, NY

QUESTION:

What is the #1 reason you think a sign business can operate for 100 years or more?

QUESTION:

How many years has your sign company been in business?

What’s the Brain Squad?

If you’re the owner or top manager of a signage and graphics company in the US or Canada, you’re invited to join the Signs of the Times Brain Squad. By taking one five-minute survey each month, you will receive access to some of the industry’s freshest data on sales — including your fellow members’ comments on what’s selling and what isn’t — and can make your voice heard on key issues affecting the sign industry. Sound good? Sign up here.