On March 1st, LP Graphics was purchased by Scott Garlock.
“It’s only been a month, so we’re really still getting our feet wet with the systems and the way things flow through here,” says owner Scott Garlock.
Garlock says he approached David and Danette Grayson about a year ago about selling the business to him. When LP Graphics went up for sale at the end of 2023, Garlock said he found out by accident that it was up for sale.
“So, I made a phone call, I said Hey David, still interested? We can talk. They wanted to get out, they wanted to move on, it kinda worked out and it happened fast, but we’re ready to go,” says Garlock.
Joining Garlock in is venture is his son Tommy who will be running Emergency Pride, a business that he has been running since 2015. The business caters to first responders, police, fire and medical. Emergency Pride supplies clothing, gifts and apparel.
“We always thought it would be cool to sell clothing to fire departments,” says Tommy.
Tommy has been around volunteer fire departments since before the age of 5, tagging along with his dad to the Town of Batavia Fire Hall for training nights on Mondays.
“I was there all the time. Firefighting is my livelihood. I love doing firefighter stuff, I used to call fire trucks wuwu’s when I was a kid.” Tommy has recently joined the Pavilion Fire Department after serving at the Town of Batavia Fire Department for 12 years.
“We know some of the things they are asking for, we know their lingo. We know what they want, we’re talking the same language.”
Before purchasing LP Graphics, the Garlocks had to make orders in bulk as they could not produce decorated garments. They only had access to about 6 lines before, but now they can produce blank garments at the Church Street location and every line is available to them.
“We want to get to the level of Uniform Express in Buffalo/Rochester, but we want a central location in Genesee County where counties like Orleans, and Wyoming, and even parts of Monroe and Erie can come to us,” says Tommy.
Scott Garlock, who has a printing background and has been selling for over 30 years, says he doesn’t plan to change anything on the LP Graphics side. Scott Garlock’s father started Garlock Office Systems in 1955 in Batavia.
“We had our own print shop in the late 80s, early 90s and I ran that.” In 2004 Garlock sold the production part of the business and then kept the printing side going and selling as a distributor. Garlock says it was always a side job.
“I’ve always enjoyed it, I always wanted to be into it. This kind of came up. I said if you want to do it full time then take that leap. We will continue to keep the same way of doing business and keep that alive and running. You know the old saying, if it’s not broke don’t fix it.”
Left to right-Scott Garlock/Owner/LP Graphics, Tommy Garlock/Sales Rep/Sales Manager, Kari Breemes/Embroidery Tech, Shelby Snow/Graphic Designer and Madyson Osbourne/Screen Printer/Digital Advertiser.
After the Grayson’s decided to retire, their employees left the business as well.
“I have some new people here that are getting their feet wet too. We had to hire three additional people/ staff and they’re working out excellent.”
The Garlocks say they will see how it all evolves as far as services.
“We have some things in the back of our mind that we want to add. If there is a need for it, we would like to add Custom Laser Engraving to create custom items,” says Scott.
One thing that will not return is the Pennysaver & News.
The Graysons purchased the LeRoy Pennysaver & News in July of 1985 from Roy
Claus. The last edition was produced in December 2023. The LeRoy Pennysaver had been in print for almost 90 years.
Scott Garlock says he is glad he was able to work out a deal rather quickly to buy the business.
“Danette stayed for the month of March, helping with the transition and training on some of the equipment with another employee. There is fine print in the lease that Danette has to stay on,” says Scott.
The Graysons still own the building and the Garlocks bought the assets to the business and are leasing the space.
“It was just going to be a case of turning off the lights and locking the door if I didn’t show up. Am sure there is a lot of pride. Some customers they dealt with them for 40 years. They had a relationship with their customers, they were not just taking orders,” says Scott.
Link to LP Graphics Facebook page below.
To Contact LP Graphics call 585-768-2201
Email-office@leroyny.com
Some history……….
The building was constructed in 1877 as a factory for Schuyler C. Wells’ patent medicine business. In 1882, it became the S.C. Wells and Company after Schuyler Wells sold a one third of the business to his brother George. That same year the tower was added which enclosed a large walk in safe. In 1897, Carl Wells, Schuyler’s son took over the company and he expanded the business by purchasing a number of medicine patents. In 1919, a fire broke out on the lower floor causing damage. Carl Wells made repairs and added a four-story addition on the north side of the building. The last product purchased by Carl was Rough on Rats, which was owned by E.S. Wells of Jersey City, New Jersey. In 1963 Carl Wells retired and James Marshall Hadley maintained the company until selling it to David and Danette Grayson. (History provided by Lynne Belluscio article from 5/14/2007 from the Pennysaver)
1940-S.C. Wells Company occupied the building at 1 Chruch Street, this photo was shared as it was included with the building.