Longtime Spokane Valley-based printing company Lancer Ltd. changes hands

Lancer Ltd., a longtime Spokane Valley-based commercial printing company, has changed hands after more than 47 years of ownership under Warren and Karen Jefvert.

The Jefverts have sold the business and its 15,000-square-foot facility at 10020 E. Montgomery Drive to Troy and Collette Bise, owners and franchisees of Minuteman Press at 111 N. Vista Road.

Warren Jefvert, 75, said the decision to retire prompted the sale of Lancer Ltd., which also produced filing systems and promotional products.

“After 47 years of operating Lancer, it was time to do something else,” Jefvert said.

The former owner will continue to work from the Lancer Ltd. building for a couple of weeks to ensure a smooth transition of ownership.

“Thank you to all of our Spokane and Coeur d’Alene-area customers,” he said. “Troy has assured me as well as my staff that the level of service, quality and pricing would continue the way that we’ve done it.”

Financial terms of the sale, which closed last week, were not disclosed.

Minuteman Press is a full-service printing and marketing company headquartered in New York with more than 1,000 independently-owned and operated franchise locations worldwide.

The franchise in Spokane Valley has more than doubled its revenue in the past three years. To continue growing, the business needed a facility larger than its existing 2,700-square-foot storefront, Bise said.

“We are wall-to-wall over there,” Bise said of the Vista Road store. “We had no more room to grow. We are definitely getting a lot more space with this new purchase and we’ll have additional capabilities.”

Minuteman Press will be relocating from its existing store to the Lancer Ltd. building by Aug. 1, Bise said.

The acquisition of Lancer Ltd. provides Minuteman Press with offset printing capabilities, forms management, product storage space and production of specialized products serving the medical and health care markets, among other things, Bise said.

“With offset printing, you can really color match. So, if a company wants to get their logo a certain color and keep consistency of it from print run to print run, you can do that,” Bise said. “Also, offset printing lends itself to larger runs, like envelope orders, and can be done cost effectively for certain orders.”

The Lancer Ltd. building has 10,000 square feet of warehouse space that Minuteman Press will utilize for production of vinyl signage and vehicle wraps.

“We recently added Thad Detillion to our group when we acquired Hero Graphics,” Bise said.

“With Thad’s capable leadership and expertise, our vehicle wraps and vinyl signage production and installation offering has taken off.”

Bise has more than 25 years of experience in the print and media fields, working with Fortune 1,000 firms such as McGraw-Hill, Lexmark, Deluxe Check Printers and Deluxe Financial Forms.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in economics from Utah State University. The Bises have called Spokane home for more than 22 years.

Bise plans to retain Lancer Ltd.’s employees as part of the acquisition. He’s also planning updates to the exterior of the Lancer Ltd. building.

“When you drive by here, it will be very clear it will be a place where you can order something for your small business – whether it’s a brochure or car wrap,” he said.Amy Edelen can be reached at (509) 459-5581 or at amye@spokesman.com.