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Help Tom retire! Pass this info along!
FIRST OFF, TO OUR MUCH LOVED AND LOYAL CUSTOMERS:
No worries, WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE & WE ARE NOT CLOSING -- we and our staff are still here busy working, ready to service all your printing, graphic, apparel and signage needs!!! And we will be here at the ready until someone comes along to buy the shop and we have them fully trained in -- so please rest assured... WE ARE and WILL BE HERE FOR YOU! ❤
We love it up here in the Copper Country and plan to stay in this area, but we need life to slow down soon. My husband is 75 years old and would like to retire, he started the shop in 1976 and it's time to hand the reins over to someone younger with more energy.
When the day comes that we sell the shop, we will do everything we can to ensure there is no downtime and that your deadlines will be met during the transition. We will all do our part to keep things running as smoothly as possible.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BUYING OUR PRINTING COMPANY?
Want to learn a new Trade and become Self-Employed at the same time?
Good with numbers? Able to Engineering projects? Are You a People-Person? = GREAT!
(owner does not need to be creative, see **)
A NEW OWNER WILL GET THE FOLLOWING:
• A busy, existing production facility with a consistent flow of work
• Physical, hard copy files and computer files ready for all the REPEAT ORDERS!
• All our specialized manufacturing equipment, software and computers required for all in-house work.
• Long established, good-standing distributorships with industry suppliers for speciality products.
• All our resource information and contacts with trade associates who produce custom work for us.
• Supplier contacts for wholesale papers, envelopes, sign materials, press supplies, etc
• All supplies in inventory for each of our different departments.
• Keep our phone numbers, fax and email addresses and YOU WILL BE KEPT BUSY!
• Rent from us to keep this location and you will have plenty of “walk-in” customers too!
• We are only selling because after 46 years of running the shop Tom would like to retire.
• Existing staff would like to stay on.
• TRAINING! Combined Tom and Bj have 96 years experience in the field for you to benefit from.
• Both Tom and B.J. will remain available to hire per project or to help part time in production.
All the above makes this a very easy business/new trade for someone to transition into!
As a customer recently said: "The table is set, all they have to do is sit down to it"
PS: I am younger then Tom, and not completely ready to retire, I could work part-time as an off-site/remote graphic artist (in addition to the shop having a full-time onsite layout person/file jockey, that I would be happy to help hire and train in) and I could also work as a consultant (for file jockeying, Mac computer IT person, engineering jobs, quoting, etc.).
**Sadly the creative services of graphic designers are rarely requested nowadays, as many customers try to submit their own "print-ready" layouts, so any person that would work in the Art Dept. will spend much of their time coaching customers on how to create layouts that work with our system/equipment (for a fee) as well as spending time correcting their files (for a fee) or recreating their project and ideas to meet our specs (for a fee), my skills as a designer are rarely put to use, and therefore could be handled by a off-site designer on a per project basis.
ABOUT THE SHOP:
Established in 1976 as a full-service quick-printer and commercial printing facility, The Print Shop services clients primarily, though not exclusively, in the Western Upper Michigan area.
The shop's on-sight manufacturing processes include traditional offset as well as full-color digital printing, full bindery services (folding, laminating, numbering, automated booklet making, hydraulic paper cutters, wire stitching, spiral binding, etc), large format Giclée artist prints, sign and banner work and heat pressed apparel. We also have a fully qualified art department to fulfill all your graphic design and forms creation needs, as well as "lobby services" for folks that require simple photocopies, faxing, and document scanning.
In addition to in-house manufacturing The Print Shop also has many industry suppliers and specialty houses that we work with in order to provide the local community with a virtually unlimited selection of print, sign and apparel related items.
The shop's sales and profits increased considerably in 2018 and in 2019 – and just prior to covid, we were looking at the need to increase our staff of 4 to 5 or 6 in order to accommodate the steady increase in work. Industry analysts are seeing indicators where that type of trend will continue even though we all had rough patches during the pandemic. Many businesses in our industry didn't survive the pandemic, yet our shop weathered through and remains strong. Starting in the spring of 2021 and continuing through fall of 2023 our staff was consistently over-booked and regularly having to turn work away, even tho we were able to do the work of 5-6 people at times (because of our high skill level, automated equipment, as well as with overtime hours). During this time we were actively seeking a new staff person and have since hired a new employee to oversee "Lobby Services" as well as assisting as an order clerk and in production.
Business is good, this is very much a going-concern.
This business can continue for many, many more years under the right leadership. In the past we had 10 of us on staff, there is no reason the business could not grow to have a large staff again, but it requires owners with drive and ambition for the future (and not an eye on retirement). Currently there are 4 of us working at the shop, 6 would be better.
The majority of our work comes from companies that call, email and fax in orders, and with many repeat orders that kept our staff busy even during the height of the pandemic when "walk-in" customers were sparse.
We remained in operation during the pandemic only closing for the first day of the governor's shut down (as we service local government and medical facilities and needed to be available for covid related work). Initially we had the "walk-in" clients stay outdoors while we serviced them, and eventually we built an indoor vestibule inside our large lobby to keep everyone safe (and warm in the winter too). Pics of the construction of the vestibule can be seen on my Facebook page.
We have complete financials and can provide details for your review, in exchange will ask for the same from you (with a signed Disclosure Agreement between us of course). To learn what type of information we would need to see from a perspective buyer, please review this article "Preparing for Due Diligence - What Sellers Will Ask Buyers" (copy of it also posted here incase that link goes down).
FOR MORE INFO:
• Check out our Facebook page (got to Photos section for quickest overview)
• There is a quickly made Virtual Tour of the shop here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUX4A5-7MZk&t=8s
• Please contact me (B.J.) at [email protected] if you are interested in checking out this great opportunity.
OUR ASKING PRICE:
PRICE is for the BUSINESS ONLY, so JUST THE PRINTING COMPANY, and it is: $245,000.00
(price does NOT including the building, as the building is owned by Litsenberger, LLC ~ Commercial & Residential Rentals, and is a completely separate business that we plan to continue to operate).
Please be aware, we did not invent the asking price on our own. We hired the services of a professional business evaluator and he closely reviewed our financials and other information to develop the asking price. Our asking price was later confirmed by an industry specialist, and in fall of 2023 confirmed by yet another professional advisor. However, even with that being said, YES we are open and eager to be presented with any reasonable offers, even if they don't meet our asking price.
FINANCING:
We prefer that a buyer secure their own financing, so we can be paid in-full upon the sale, however, we MAY consider Seller-Financing if a variety of conditions are agreeable for us. First off we would need to feel sure that the buyer would be a VERY good fit for our printing company, our staff, and our customers. An interested buyer would need to present their business plan in writing for us to review at the time that they make their offer ~ along with how they would hope to see the financing go.
An interested buyer will need to review "Preparing for Due Diligence - What Sellers Will Ask Buyers" (click here - or - here) and be aware that before we would enter into any written agreement there will be much research done, background checks, meetings with consultants, bankers, accountants, our lawyer as well as with the Senior Business Consultant at the Upper Peninsula Regional Office of the Michigan Small Business Development Center (for which Michigan Technological University is the host for their offices).
We would be the ones to set the final terms, fees, interest amounts and conditions of any agreement, not the buyer, as we would in essence be taking on the roll of a bank, and would, because of this situation, remain legally connected to the shop until such time that we are paid in-full, therefore nothing will be taken lightly. No verbal or email conversations will be considered binding, nor would any handshake -- only items outlined in a legally binding contract would apply, and will bind both the seller and the buyer together in that agreement for years to come (assuming the buyer would require more then 1 year to fulfill their end of the agreement and make all required payments).
THE PRINT SHOP'S CURRENT RENTAL SPACE:
In 2005 the Litsenberger’s formed a new company: Litsenberger, LLC Commercial & Residential Rentals, which purchased this 19,950 sq ft building. This building currently has 4 other renters besides The Print Shop (with a 5th being developed soon). The spaces had all new electrical service brought in (including a new transformer for the manufacturing aspect of The Print Shop) as well as all new fresh water plumbing (except for the 2 apartments which were inspected and found to be ok as-is, they were last updated in the 1990's). The heating system was brought up to code with all new duct work, and since then 2 of the 5 furnaces have been replaced with Energy Star ones (in 2009 and in 2017). Other major renovations were also done to improve the quality of the building and preserve it's historical features.
The Print Shop's lobby, offices, file room and art dept. are currently on the 224 Shelden Avenue level, total of approx. 3,325 sq ft office space), and the shop's pressroom, dark room, sign dept. and loading dock, currently located on the lower level at 225 E Lakeshore Drive is housed in approx. 2,808 of manufacturing space), for an approx. 5,373 sq ft. combined. The Print Shop has a 52'x28' pressroom with superior overhead lighting, 220 and 110 volt, and utility sink. Other rooms on this lower level include their darkroom, sign department and shipping/receiving. Concrete flooring is throughout most of this level and is capable of handling heavy equipment. 225 East Lakeshore Drive has 2 entry doors (one is ADA), the loading dock and has 6 windows, 5 facing the Portage Canal.
This current facility would easily handle a large volume of employees, with room to expand services and added equipment too.
There is room on the Lakeshore Drive level in the currently undeveloped spaces for The Print Shop to expand and create new services, or move the offices, file room, Art Dept. and lobby* down to this level.
The current/developed print shop spaces are rented to ourselves at a "family" rate of $1,700.00 per month. A casual lease is obviously in place as we are our own landlords, if someone new were to purchase the shop and would want to continue to rent this space we would negotiate a proper rental price and write up a lease with them, same as what our other renters have with us.
Please note: the building is NOT for sale. We are wanting to sell The Print Shop so Tom can retire, we have zero need or desire to sell the building ~ so thank you in advance for not pressuring us to sell our building to you, many have tried to do so but it simply is not for sale at this time, only The Print Shop is.
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD:
We are on main street in the historic and busy small town of Houghton Michigan, which is loaded with quaint gift shops and quality restaurants -- with constant foot traffic and US41's through traffic -- our's is a highly visible storefront/brick and mortar business. We are just one block from the famous Portage Lake Lift Bridge in the beautiful Copper Country of Upper Michigan. Houghton is a great community adjacent to Michigan Technological University, which offers much to our community. We also have a college in our area, plus many historical attractions, as well as many fitness/atv trails, Lake Superior's variety of beaches, ski hills, great boating, fishing, plus a vibrant arts culture, tons of great eateries and a thriving business community.
*Also, for the Summer thru Fall of 2023 the City of Houghton has be in the process of developing new parking spaces along the waterfront right behind The Print Shop (on the same level with our manufacturing space), along with adding green space, gardens, trees, picnic tables, benches, etc., expanding upon the customer friendly charm of this neighborhood.
Our's is a solid business in a burgeoning small town in a beautiful part of the USA. We will give you all the tools you need to be at least as successful with the business as we have been (but we do imagine any new younger owner will actually take the business much farther then we have).
=) Bj
No worries, WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE & WE ARE NOT CLOSING -- we and our staff are still here busy working, ready to service all your printing, graphic, apparel and signage needs!!! And we will be here at the ready until someone comes along to buy the shop and we have them fully trained in -- so please rest assured... WE ARE and WILL BE HERE FOR YOU! ❤
We love it up here in the Copper Country and plan to stay in this area, but we need life to slow down soon. My husband is 75 years old and would like to retire, he started the shop in 1976 and it's time to hand the reins over to someone younger with more energy.
When the day comes that we sell the shop, we will do everything we can to ensure there is no downtime and that your deadlines will be met during the transition. We will all do our part to keep things running as smoothly as possible.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BUYING OUR PRINTING COMPANY?
Want to learn a new Trade and become Self-Employed at the same time?
Good with numbers? Able to Engineering projects? Are You a People-Person? = GREAT!
(owner does not need to be creative, see **)
A NEW OWNER WILL GET THE FOLLOWING:
• A busy, existing production facility with a consistent flow of work
• Physical, hard copy files and computer files ready for all the REPEAT ORDERS!
• All our specialized manufacturing equipment, software and computers required for all in-house work.
• Long established, good-standing distributorships with industry suppliers for speciality products.
• All our resource information and contacts with trade associates who produce custom work for us.
• Supplier contacts for wholesale papers, envelopes, sign materials, press supplies, etc
• All supplies in inventory for each of our different departments.
• Keep our phone numbers, fax and email addresses and YOU WILL BE KEPT BUSY!
• Rent from us to keep this location and you will have plenty of “walk-in” customers too!
• We are only selling because after 46 years of running the shop Tom would like to retire.
• Existing staff would like to stay on.
• TRAINING! Combined Tom and Bj have 96 years experience in the field for you to benefit from.
• Both Tom and B.J. will remain available to hire per project or to help part time in production.
All the above makes this a very easy business/new trade for someone to transition into!
As a customer recently said: "The table is set, all they have to do is sit down to it"
PS: I am younger then Tom, and not completely ready to retire, I could work part-time as an off-site/remote graphic artist (in addition to the shop having a full-time onsite layout person/file jockey, that I would be happy to help hire and train in) and I could also work as a consultant (for file jockeying, Mac computer IT person, engineering jobs, quoting, etc.).
**Sadly the creative services of graphic designers are rarely requested nowadays, as many customers try to submit their own "print-ready" layouts, so any person that would work in the Art Dept. will spend much of their time coaching customers on how to create layouts that work with our system/equipment (for a fee) as well as spending time correcting their files (for a fee) or recreating their project and ideas to meet our specs (for a fee), my skills as a designer are rarely put to use, and therefore could be handled by a off-site designer on a per project basis.
ABOUT THE SHOP:
Established in 1976 as a full-service quick-printer and commercial printing facility, The Print Shop services clients primarily, though not exclusively, in the Western Upper Michigan area.
The shop's on-sight manufacturing processes include traditional offset as well as full-color digital printing, full bindery services (folding, laminating, numbering, automated booklet making, hydraulic paper cutters, wire stitching, spiral binding, etc), large format Giclée artist prints, sign and banner work and heat pressed apparel. We also have a fully qualified art department to fulfill all your graphic design and forms creation needs, as well as "lobby services" for folks that require simple photocopies, faxing, and document scanning.
In addition to in-house manufacturing The Print Shop also has many industry suppliers and specialty houses that we work with in order to provide the local community with a virtually unlimited selection of print, sign and apparel related items.
The shop's sales and profits increased considerably in 2018 and in 2019 – and just prior to covid, we were looking at the need to increase our staff of 4 to 5 or 6 in order to accommodate the steady increase in work. Industry analysts are seeing indicators where that type of trend will continue even though we all had rough patches during the pandemic. Many businesses in our industry didn't survive the pandemic, yet our shop weathered through and remains strong. Starting in the spring of 2021 and continuing through fall of 2023 our staff was consistently over-booked and regularly having to turn work away, even tho we were able to do the work of 5-6 people at times (because of our high skill level, automated equipment, as well as with overtime hours). During this time we were actively seeking a new staff person and have since hired a new employee to oversee "Lobby Services" as well as assisting as an order clerk and in production.
Business is good, this is very much a going-concern.
This business can continue for many, many more years under the right leadership. In the past we had 10 of us on staff, there is no reason the business could not grow to have a large staff again, but it requires owners with drive and ambition for the future (and not an eye on retirement). Currently there are 4 of us working at the shop, 6 would be better.
The majority of our work comes from companies that call, email and fax in orders, and with many repeat orders that kept our staff busy even during the height of the pandemic when "walk-in" customers were sparse.
We remained in operation during the pandemic only closing for the first day of the governor's shut down (as we service local government and medical facilities and needed to be available for covid related work). Initially we had the "walk-in" clients stay outdoors while we serviced them, and eventually we built an indoor vestibule inside our large lobby to keep everyone safe (and warm in the winter too). Pics of the construction of the vestibule can be seen on my Facebook page.
We have complete financials and can provide details for your review, in exchange will ask for the same from you (with a signed Disclosure Agreement between us of course). To learn what type of information we would need to see from a perspective buyer, please review this article "Preparing for Due Diligence - What Sellers Will Ask Buyers" (copy of it also posted here incase that link goes down).
FOR MORE INFO:
• Check out our Facebook page (got to Photos section for quickest overview)
• There is a quickly made Virtual Tour of the shop here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUX4A5-7MZk&t=8s
• Please contact me (B.J.) at [email protected] if you are interested in checking out this great opportunity.
OUR ASKING PRICE:
PRICE is for the BUSINESS ONLY, so JUST THE PRINTING COMPANY, and it is: $245,000.00
(price does NOT including the building, as the building is owned by Litsenberger, LLC ~ Commercial & Residential Rentals, and is a completely separate business that we plan to continue to operate).
Please be aware, we did not invent the asking price on our own. We hired the services of a professional business evaluator and he closely reviewed our financials and other information to develop the asking price. Our asking price was later confirmed by an industry specialist, and in fall of 2023 confirmed by yet another professional advisor. However, even with that being said, YES we are open and eager to be presented with any reasonable offers, even if they don't meet our asking price.
FINANCING:
We prefer that a buyer secure their own financing, so we can be paid in-full upon the sale, however, we MAY consider Seller-Financing if a variety of conditions are agreeable for us. First off we would need to feel sure that the buyer would be a VERY good fit for our printing company, our staff, and our customers. An interested buyer would need to present their business plan in writing for us to review at the time that they make their offer ~ along with how they would hope to see the financing go.
An interested buyer will need to review "Preparing for Due Diligence - What Sellers Will Ask Buyers" (click here - or - here) and be aware that before we would enter into any written agreement there will be much research done, background checks, meetings with consultants, bankers, accountants, our lawyer as well as with the Senior Business Consultant at the Upper Peninsula Regional Office of the Michigan Small Business Development Center (for which Michigan Technological University is the host for their offices).
We would be the ones to set the final terms, fees, interest amounts and conditions of any agreement, not the buyer, as we would in essence be taking on the roll of a bank, and would, because of this situation, remain legally connected to the shop until such time that we are paid in-full, therefore nothing will be taken lightly. No verbal or email conversations will be considered binding, nor would any handshake -- only items outlined in a legally binding contract would apply, and will bind both the seller and the buyer together in that agreement for years to come (assuming the buyer would require more then 1 year to fulfill their end of the agreement and make all required payments).
THE PRINT SHOP'S CURRENT RENTAL SPACE:
In 2005 the Litsenberger’s formed a new company: Litsenberger, LLC Commercial & Residential Rentals, which purchased this 19,950 sq ft building. This building currently has 4 other renters besides The Print Shop (with a 5th being developed soon). The spaces had all new electrical service brought in (including a new transformer for the manufacturing aspect of The Print Shop) as well as all new fresh water plumbing (except for the 2 apartments which were inspected and found to be ok as-is, they were last updated in the 1990's). The heating system was brought up to code with all new duct work, and since then 2 of the 5 furnaces have been replaced with Energy Star ones (in 2009 and in 2017). Other major renovations were also done to improve the quality of the building and preserve it's historical features.
The Print Shop's lobby, offices, file room and art dept. are currently on the 224 Shelden Avenue level, total of approx. 3,325 sq ft office space), and the shop's pressroom, dark room, sign dept. and loading dock, currently located on the lower level at 225 E Lakeshore Drive is housed in approx. 2,808 of manufacturing space), for an approx. 5,373 sq ft. combined. The Print Shop has a 52'x28' pressroom with superior overhead lighting, 220 and 110 volt, and utility sink. Other rooms on this lower level include their darkroom, sign department and shipping/receiving. Concrete flooring is throughout most of this level and is capable of handling heavy equipment. 225 East Lakeshore Drive has 2 entry doors (one is ADA), the loading dock and has 6 windows, 5 facing the Portage Canal.
This current facility would easily handle a large volume of employees, with room to expand services and added equipment too.
There is room on the Lakeshore Drive level in the currently undeveloped spaces for The Print Shop to expand and create new services, or move the offices, file room, Art Dept. and lobby* down to this level.
The current/developed print shop spaces are rented to ourselves at a "family" rate of $1,700.00 per month. A casual lease is obviously in place as we are our own landlords, if someone new were to purchase the shop and would want to continue to rent this space we would negotiate a proper rental price and write up a lease with them, same as what our other renters have with us.
Please note: the building is NOT for sale. We are wanting to sell The Print Shop so Tom can retire, we have zero need or desire to sell the building ~ so thank you in advance for not pressuring us to sell our building to you, many have tried to do so but it simply is not for sale at this time, only The Print Shop is.
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD:
We are on main street in the historic and busy small town of Houghton Michigan, which is loaded with quaint gift shops and quality restaurants -- with constant foot traffic and US41's through traffic -- our's is a highly visible storefront/brick and mortar business. We are just one block from the famous Portage Lake Lift Bridge in the beautiful Copper Country of Upper Michigan. Houghton is a great community adjacent to Michigan Technological University, which offers much to our community. We also have a college in our area, plus many historical attractions, as well as many fitness/atv trails, Lake Superior's variety of beaches, ski hills, great boating, fishing, plus a vibrant arts culture, tons of great eateries and a thriving business community.
*Also, for the Summer thru Fall of 2023 the City of Houghton has be in the process of developing new parking spaces along the waterfront right behind The Print Shop (on the same level with our manufacturing space), along with adding green space, gardens, trees, picnic tables, benches, etc., expanding upon the customer friendly charm of this neighborhood.
Our's is a solid business in a burgeoning small town in a beautiful part of the USA. We will give you all the tools you need to be at least as successful with the business as we have been (but we do imagine any new younger owner will actually take the business much farther then we have).
=) Bj
