Stamp Business Working To Make An Impression In/Around: Hillyard
For eight years, Blake and Cherrie Carlson manufactured and sold business stamps out of their home across from Hays Park.
When the operation grew, they looked around for space and landed on Hillyard’s Market Street.
“I grew up in Hillyard. It’s kind of like coming home to the neighborhood,” said Blake Carlson, who attended Shaw Middle School the year it opened.
But the move also made economic sense.
The 2,600-square-foot storefront he now occupies at 5210 N. Market rents for $400 a month.
“We looked around for two to three years and couldn’t find anything for under $2,000,” Carlson said.
Other Hillyard business owners have been boosting the neighborhood as a place for just such home-grown specialty shops.
The Carlsons’ Northwest Business Stamps Inc. is making headway in an increasingly specialized field of manufacturing.
The $50,000 laser engraving machine that dominates their shop can take a computer image and beam it onto a rubber or wooden surface. The intense energy, hotter than the surface of the sun, vaporizes the surfaces, creating an image.
Carlson, who sells the stamps to bankers, real estate agents and law offices, has embraced the technology.
There are only 40 of the laser-engraving machines in operation worldwide. The machine turns out images that are crisp and clear, and the process is quick.
The machine can make about 200 rubber stamps a day.
Because he uses a tough grade of tree rubber, Carlson expects the stamps to last longer than most of his customers.
“Until I could make the best product in the country, I couldn’t go out and mass-market it,” he said.
He deliberately held off on sales until his employees had mastered the technology.
Now with 11 employees, he’s bidding on contracts for state governments in Washington, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey.
He also has the stamp accounts for 77 banks, Kaiser Aluminum, the Mead School District, Whitworth College, Gonzaga University, Fairchild Air Force Base and the city of Spokane.
The Market Street storefront location has enabled Carlson to start a retail operation. A whole array of art stamps is on display.
They feature images that range from names and slogans to animals and flower designs. Prices start at about $4.50.
He’s also presenting workshops and demonstrations for art groups and hobbyists.
Carlson has found the small retail part of the business to be gratifying.
“A lady brought in a picture of her dog and wanted it on a stamp,” he said. “This morning, no one knew it could possibly be done. It was a dream.”
By 1:30 p.m. the stamp was completed and the image of the pet was sharp and clear.
Carlson is hoping to help make Hillyard a magnet for North Side shoppers.
“The biggest thing I hear from our customers is, ‘I’m so glad you’re on the North Side. I’m so glad I don’t have to go downtown,”’ he said.
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