New Guy from PA

[phila3 0]

Greetings All:

 

We have had a retail store in a small town in central PA for 35 years. We sell crafts and art materials, we have a flat glass shop and we do custom picture framing among quite a few other things. We have a 40 " x 60" vacuum press and a 28" x 34" heat press for the custom framing dept. We already carry many of the substrates that are used for signs.

There is no sign shop that has a store front in town although there are one (or two maybe?) folks that work from their homes in the general area. There is really no one that I would really call competition for miles and miles.

If we had just the retail we would have been out of business long ago. What keeps us going along with the retail are the services that we provide, i.e. the custom framing and glass work (insulated units, tempered glass, mirrors, table tops. etc.) I really hadn't considered adding a sign shop until I ran across a sign cutter on eBay from US Cutter. Up until then I had't realized how reasonably priced they were. I should also mentioned that I have had years of experience using design software not specifically vectored graphics, but I understand what they are and actually the software that I am using now will generate vectored graphics.

I have a space set up and have built a 36" x 97" table to work on. (We have other work spaces, tables, etc. as well in our other departments) So long story short we are probably a few weeks away from ordering a vinyl cutter. I am sort of zeroing in on the Laserpoint II to get started unless someone here can tell me why not. I ddn't want to get the cheapest cutter they have but since I have a budget and we also want to make sure this sign shop thing flies before making a huge investment.

Also from doing my research and watching all the videos that are available. I understand that without a vinyl printer there are some things like logos, etc that I won't be able to do. But I'm hoping just like with the custom framing and glass businesses to find some vendors that specialize in providing services to a sign shops that either can't do something because they don't have the equipment or expertise or don't want to do it also it would be nice to have someone to lean on for special projects. If you know of any of these suppliers I would appreciate you sharing.

Also I have read some of forums concerning how people price things and obviously being in business for 35 years we know how to price things to make a profit but I would be interested in input on pricing and anything else that would be helpful in getting this off the ground. Things like what you would do differently if were to start again knowing what you know now.

Thanks much in advance for any information anyone provides And I will be glad to reciprocate in any areas of my current expertise.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

lots to learn on here - you can make a good go of it with a cutter and with the glass - etching is hot right now - cut mask and sandblast will pay for everything quickly

[jaybyrd 3,770]

I have a laserpoint 2 I use in the back cut station, it is louder and slower than the Graphtec but as long as you're not doing huge stuff or extremely small detail work it should serve your needs while you decide if it is profitable enough to purchase a better machine.

[dwp99 283]

Hello and Welcome.  I started out with a used Summa plotter and it's still going great.

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Welcome and good luck.

[rlvied 292]

Hello and welcome from De,

Bob