By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The Brassworks Building, with its painted image of a four-story-tall workman carrying a dazzling arc welder, is perhaps the most visible and recognizable building in Grand Rapids Monroe North district. What better place to relocate Promotional Impact, a promotional products company whose purpose is to advance the visibility and brand recognition of its clients?
Karen Scarpino founded Promotional Impact as a home based business in Walker. After logging 30 percent sales growth this past year and hiring more staff, the company needed more space and moved into Brassworks in February.
“We service clients who wanted us to come and see them, so our physical space at home wasn’t that important,” says Scarpino. “But since we’ve moved downtown all of our clients have dropped in. The cozy atmosphere is such that we’ve had clients stop by at the end of the day and just sit and talk for a while.”
Already the 1,500-square-foot accommodations are too small with six staff on site and a planned increase of three more people by year’s end, so Scarpino is negotiating with the landlord for another 1,000 square feet.
“I looked other places before moving here, but I didn’t want my clients to have to walk into a square white building,” she says. “We’re a creative team and bring ‘wow factor’ solutions to our customers. To do that, you have to have energy and enthusiasm, and some of the offices I looked at drained my energy."
"Coming across the Sixth Street Bridge is so energizing, and when I walk in here, I feel proud to be here. I want my workers to feel the same and this space offers that.”
Source: Karen Scarpino, Promotional Impact; Christine Hoek, Articulate Communications, LLC
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Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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