South Shore Print is a family-owned small business that began as a part-time venture in their house six and a half years ago. Initially focused on creating clothing for another business, they soon expanded to provide shirts for other small businesses in the town. Over time, they grew to become a prominent screen printing, embroidery, and graphic design company in the South Shore community.
We’ve asked the owner, Tom Preece, a few questions about their business, read on to his responses and get to know more about South Shore Print.
About South Shore Print and their humble beginnings…
Our humble beginning started as a part time side hustle out of a small room in our house 6 and a half years ago, when we decided to start doing our own clothing for another business we had.
We started with a heat press and heat transfer vinyl. This quickly grew into doing shirts for other small businesses in town.
How does your business contribute to the local economy?
Some of the things in which we help within our community are selling Liverpool Fire Department apparel and donating proceeds back to the fire department.
Helping with donations in order to raise money for families in need. And most recently, we donated our original screen printing press to John C. Wickwire Academy so students can learn another great form of art.
We also sponsor lots of local events.
What challenges have you faced as a small business owner in this community, how has it affected your company, and how have you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges we have faced is moving to this community 2 years ago from small town Ontario and not knowing how our business would be received. We are so glad to be a part of this community and feel as though we have lived here our whole lives.
What are some ways your business has had to adapt over the years?
Adaptation is a non-stop constant when you own a business. We are always evolving and striving to continue to learn new things in our craft in order to always be our best at what we do.
At what point did you look back at your business and consider it a success?
We look back everyday and are thankful for each step of our growth and success. Sometimes it’s a small win and others a large win. As a small business owner, you need to be thankful for every win!
Can you share any memorable customer experiences or success stories?
We can’t recall just one, so I will leave you with this. Every customer we have ever encountered, good or bad, is a success story. It could be something as simple as suggesting something small for them that saved them some money. Or something huge like redesigning their logo to help market their business better.
We try to have conversations with all of our customers and treat them as if we have known them our whole life.
Are there any upcoming events or promotions that you’d like the community to know about?
Nothing with our business in direct relation, but we have sponsored the Memorial Auto Show on August 19th, And we always encourage businesses to stop in to see how we can help them look their best!
How do you support other local businesses in the community?
Small business is what drives any community. It is the backbone of our economy. We try and support every business who walks through our doors by offering them solutions within their budget. Sometimes that means that they may not meet our minimum order quantity requirements, however we try and work with them as we know what it’s like starting out and not always having the capital or budget; other times that has meant that we’ve designed a logo for free so that business is able to market themselves appropriately. We also try and refer other customers towards businesses who have supported us.
What are your plans for the future of your business? Any new products, services, or expansions in the works?
We always have plans to grow, and some of which we cannot publicly say as of yet lol
How can the community best support your business and help it grow?
We would love to meet more small businesses in the community who still may not know about us or what we offer. Creating more long lasting relationships.
Is there anything else you would like the community to know about your business?
We are a true family owned business, husband and wife team. Always pushing each other outside of our comfort zones and striving to be our absolute best at what we do!
What do we do?
Screen Printing, embroidery and graphic design. Specializing in clothing, headwear, workwear, pens, bags and all other promotional items. We use the latest equipment and software bringing our customers the best our industry has to offer.
How does your business measure success? Is it purely financial or are there other metrics you consider?
Success can be measured in so many ways. Overcoming small goals every step along the way is always a success. Not a day goes by that we don’t sit back and reflect on how far we have come.
Too many people measure their success by how much money they earn. But the real success is when customers leave happy. We have been very blessed to see our business grow via word of mouth vs having to run advertising campaigns constantly.
I am from that small town where Tom started his business .We were sad to see them move, but was very happy to see their success…I even payed them a visit last summer…I am honored to know such hard working and dedicated people and honored to call them my friends..keep on keeping on South Shore Print Co.