Josh Allen created Midwest Graphix in 2009 in his parent’s basement, doing vinyl decals before teaching himself how to screenprint. He later brought his wife Chelsea, an Owensboro native, on board to assist with the business’s daily operations. After serving the Rockport and Owensboro area for years, they found an opportunity serve their customers even better.
They announced last week that Midwest Graphix of Rockport is now a division of Slade, an Evansville-based company that specializes in screenprinting, vinyl work, and various promotional products. Their location remains the same; the acquisition merely allows Midwest to enhance its capacity.
“We are staying in Rockport. All of what we do will remain the same, we will just now have the capacity to do so much more,” Chelsea Allen said. “We’ve had to turn people away recently because we lacked capacity, and that won’t be the case now because we can do larger projects and advanced sign works.”
Tom and Lisa Slade decided it was time to branch out independently and create Slade after operating as an Alpha Graphics franchise for 25 years.
“We decided to go independent at the end of our term,” the couple said. “We outgrew the franchise model and added services not supported by the franchise, so it made sense for our growth strategies to be local and control our growth.”
The brother-and-sister team of Hunter Slade and Emily Slade Manzo have since taken over the family business and look forward to serving the Rockport and Owensboro area. Both parties said the timing for the acquisition was perfect.
“The acquisition of Midwest Graphix not only gives Slade new territory in the Rockport area and Owensboro, but the product mix of corporate apparel, signs, and vehicle graphics fits right in with the Slade Companies portfolio,” the Slades said in a release. “The business will continue to operate out of the 410 Main Street location in Rockport, and all current employees of Midwest Graphix will be joining the newly formed company.”
Slade boasts four divisions: Slade Print, which focuses on paper and workbooks; Slade Signs, which specializes in vehicle wraps, sign production, and more; ProMark, which features screenprinting and embroidery; and now Midwest.
The Allens first met the Slades when volunteering at a church event. They leaned on them for some larger projects and approached them with the proposal less than one year later. Chelsea will continue to handle all sales and customer services for the company and considers it an excellent opportunity to provide her customers with even better care.
“It can be overwhelming sometimes to own the business and not get to take care of customers as I would like,” she said. “I want customers to know that I’m not going anywhere. Our capacity has dramatically increased, and we look forward to continuing to serve people. Our goal is for us to be able to serve the Spencer County and Owensboro area better than we already were.”
