Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center Skywalks signage by Sharpe Co.
By Ed Avis
The sign business is a growing segment for many reprographics shops, and APDSP member Sharpe Co. recently made a big leap forward in that area by acquiring a local sign business. The company they acquired, SignWorks, expands the permanent signage services Sharpe can offer.
“We had been working with them for a few years, outsourcing the manufacturing and installation of permanent signage,” explains Chad Sealey, director of sales and marketing for Sharpe. “We had a good partnership. We had talked to them once before about being acquired, but they weren’t ready. This time things started to fall into place in late summer, and they decided they wanted to join our family. The deal closed in November.”
SignWorks specializes in channel letters, backlit signs, ADA signage, custom awnings and other signage. They continue to work out of their shop in Lexington, N.C., which is about halfway between two existing Sharpe Co. locations.
Sharpe used an 80' lift to install a 30'x35' banner as well as an 15'x18' banner at the Wrangler HQ store in Greensboro, NC.
“They’re basically our seventh location,” Sealey says. “Now we’re cross-selling some of our other services to their clients, and we’re able to offer faster turn on our existing AEC customers who need signage. We’re expanding what they’re doing for us.”
Sharpe’s business is focused in North Carolina, but they have national clients, too. With the addition of SignWorks, they can more easily manufacture and ship signage to those customers. For installation, they either send their own team or hire a local installer.
“Everything is going – knock on wood – very smoothly,” Sealey says. He adds that the previous owners of SignWorks have remained with the company, and no layoffs have occurred.
The SignWorks acquisition may not be Sharpe’s last, Sealey suggests: “We’ve got our eyes on a couple of other potential acquisitions in the next 12 to 24 months.”