Printer emerges from pandemic to mark centennial with more products
A London printing and marketing firm is celebrating 101 years in business with an aggressive growth strategy as it emerges from the pandemic, said its owners.
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A London printing and marketing firm is celebrating 101 years in business with an aggressive growth strategy as it emerges from the pandemic, its owners say.
Allegra Marketing Print Mail, formerly known as Middlesex Printing, is marking its centennial with an expansion of its offerings as it rebuilds the business, owner Brian Hoekstra said.
“We provide a one-stop shop for customers. We offer many services, but we have brought in some new offerings to customers. And since things bottomed out (in the pandemic), we have grown,” said Hoekstra, president and co-owner with his wife Sandra.
“We are almost at pre-pandemic levels.”
In addition to providing traditional printing services at its location on Leathorne Street, Allegra has diversified into marketing initiatives, including direct and neighborhood mail delivery, getting flyers into people’s homes, Brian Hoekstra said.
“Customers demand it now. We can offer them different services.”
During the pandemic, sales slumped about 25 per cent, but they are now down just over five per cent from pre-pandemic totals, and trending upward, Hoekstra said.
“We held on by our fingertips, we relied on government support, but we have a majority of our business back now,” he said.
It is not unusual today for printing firms to offer graphic design, full-colour press, digital and wide-format printing, business forms, booklets, catalogues, signs, posters, banners and promotional products, and Allegra has embraced that diversity, Sandra Hoekstra said.
“You have to be on your toes and open to new products,” she said.
The Hoekstras bought two businesses, Allegra and Middlesex Printing, in 2019 and merged them into Allegra, she said.
“We have a team through Allegra that helps with marketing, we have access to a lot of different marketing providers and graphics, and in-house graphic artists as well,” she said.
Brian Hoekstra was involved in managing manufacturing plants in the auto parts sector. He was getting tired of the travel schedule so he decided to manage his own business.
“It was a good time to branch out on our own. I always ran a plant and that is what I am doing now,” he said.
The business was founded in 1921 when brothers Herbert G. and Christopher B. Morton, who emigrated from England in 1911 with their families, opened Middlesex Printing in what was the Empire Brass Co., later known as EMCO, on Dundas Street.
The Mortons were descended from a long line of printers and ran the business for more than 50 years. In 1979, George and Marilyn Hull bought Middlesex Printing. They sold it to the Hoekstras.
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