Wide Format Imaging

Between December 2007 and February 2008, readers of Wide-Format Imaging submitted nomination forms for an opportunity to be included in the prestigious list of the Top Shops of North America. The forms were collated and compared and the final list is included on page 18—ranked from highest to lowest by 2007 total year revenue as reported by the shops.

No two of the businesses are alike and their backgrounds are as diverse as their product mix. And this year, all of them hail from the US. Some have a single location, while others do business out of multiple locations over a wide geography.

The companies averaged out at a little over 22 years old, with our oldest topping out at 82 years (OCB Reprographics, 1926) while The Image House came in as the newest, established in 2005. This year's list includes 93 total locations, with 22 more planned for 2008—double the number from 2007.

The Top Shops offer a range of capabilities to their customers. As an average, 50.50 percent of the top shops' output is wide-format (36-96 inches in width), followed by grand-format (96-inches plus) at 26.74 percent, medium-format (24-35 inches) with 15.03 percent, and the remaining 7.74 percent in small-format, 14-inches and smaller documents.

While banners and signs (22.03 percent) make up the largest application on average for the shops, engineering drawings (13.28 percent), exhibit and trade-show graphics (11.47 percent), and retail and POP displays (12.38 percent), are bringing in a lion's share of revenue for these companies. Fine art applications (8.79 percent), backlit (6.60 percent), fleet and vehicle graphics (6.12 percent), billboards (5.41 percent), posters (5.28 percent), fabric and textiles (3.91), and specialty applications (3.47 percent round out the rest of the applications. But what's next?

Presidents and owners mentioned various applications and technologies that are on the horizon for 2008 and 2009. Flatbed printers were on the minds of nearly half of the top shops—some as new installs, others for additional capacity. Vehicle graphics and custom interiors—including wall murals, wall graphics, and textiles—were also hot topics for many. According to Paul Lilienthal, president of Pictura Graphics, he is looking to expand his company's custom graphic applications to include corporate environments and interiors as well as various branded environments and solutions.

What technologies will impact their business the most? For some, it's all about the software—from online document management, archiving solutions, web-based CRM systems, and web-based online ordering systems. Variable data applications, electronic signs, and scanning systems were also top of mind.