Story and photos by Carol Pappas
From ink to digital presses, from invitations and business cards to signs, vehicle wraps and at bed printing, Eddie Gilreath and his family have seen it all. Just like the printing industry itself, Gilreath Printing & Signs has evolved over the past 32 years.
A new era has dawned for the family-owned company with the opening of their new facility a block from their old location in downtown Pell City.
The difference? A state-of-the-art, 10,000 square foot facility that is expected to grow to meet the current needs of the varied formats in the printing industry and well into the future.
Gilreath Printing began in an 800 square foot building behind where Pell City Coffee Company is now. At the five-year mark, they outgrew it. He eyed a piece of property on Cogswell Avenue at the corner of 20th Street, which had been vacant for 30 years. A friend was building custom log homes at the time, and he asked if he could build one for his office on that lot.
The lot’s owner, Johnny Turner, sold it to Gilreath, they built their office in that log home, “and we had plenty of room.”
“Or so we thought,” said son, Jeremiah, who has taken the lead in operations today.
In 2004, they started printing signs. Their first wrap – vinyl signage that conforms to the contours of a structure like a vehicle or a window – came in 2008. It was on their own vehicle – a Ford Explorer.
Now, the business is 50-50 printing and signs. They even do wall wraps and offer any type of advertising specialty.
New cutting-edge equipment giving them the ability to print directly on any substrate, has been added. Many more technological advances are on the way. “When we started, we didn’t even have a computer,” said Susie Gilreath, Eddie’s wife and Jeremiah’s mother.
As they walk through the new, spacious facilities, they talk about their ability to do the job better, faster, and at competitive pricing. The newly installed equipment helps them meet demands of the future and grow their business in the right direction.
A suite of offices is just beyond the lobby with a glass window that lets visitors see the open bay area, where work is done. That vantage point allows them to observe the whole operation.
Through the window, a freshly wrapped service van is spotted, ready to be pressed into duty by Allen Service Company. A Mustang wrapped especially for Talladega Superspeedway sits nearby under a special lighting system that allows the Gilreath crew to do their work without reflections and shadow.
Digital printers of all shapes, sizes and capacities anchor the center of the floor, and a flurry of activity is ongoing throughout the day by family and long-term employees. There’s even a third generation, Jeremiah’s son, Brody.
The log cabin still stands at the corner of Cogswell Avenue and 20th Street, ready to lease, Gilreath said.
The Gilreaths still believe in doing the right thing, creating value and helping businesses get results.
As for the size and scope of the operation as it heads into the future from its new headquarters, it’s all in a day’s work at Gilreath Printing & Signs.
