Mike Maheux finally got what he wanted. For the past couple of years, Maheux has been in talks with Gord Gamble to take over his Bayers Lake location of Minuteman Press, but things just never seemed to come together. That changed this past June.
Maheux owns the Cole Harbour Minuteman location and was finding the two operations, run by two different people, were leading to customer confusion.
"I had customers in Halifax and Gord had customers in Dartmouth and they would come into our stores thinking they were the same operations. This way it makes sense for customers to just go to the closest location for them," Maheux says.
Having two different operators also meant each location was duplicating services offered at the other. With the purchase now complete, Maheux has centralized offset printing services in the Cole Harbour store and digital printing in the Bayers Lake location.
The increased volume created by the merger has also allowed Maheux to move ahead with a new purchase he has been eyeing for some time.
"It justifies the purchase of our new DI Press – the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada," Maheux says. "It's more environmentally-friendly, waterless, has a shorter set-up time and saves time, labour and space."
The merger has also led to a move for the Bayers Lake location to the corner of Chain Lake and Crane Lake Drive. Maheux says the new spot is a little smaller than the former building further up Crane Lake Drive, but it provides far greater visibility.
"Everything has been really well received by our customers," Maheux says. "Customers are enjoying the convenience of being able to drop off and pick up from whichever location is better for them, and they're excited about the new press and the capabilities it brings to their operations."
All of this is also happening at a particularly appropriate time in terms of market needs, Maheux adds. "The timing is right with the shift toward high quality-short run needs by our target customers. There's a growing niche market we're ideally suited for where clients are finding they no longer need large volumes, but want to be able to change things up quickly."
