Our print shop is for sale
My wife, Mouse, and I have a little print shop in Pahoa. It is very relaxed. We get to meet smart and interesting people all the time. I get to take photos of our beautiful and amazing island, and then print and sell them. We couldn't ask for a better lifestyle.
Nonetheless, I lie awake at night concerned about our climate. It's a strange thing to focus on, but it's been at the top of my thoughts for years now. Mouse and I have decided it's time for me to change focus and try to do something about it. That's why we're selling the business and our home, and moving to the Mainland.
Our shop is focused on art and photography. We use a couple of wide format printers and a digital press. We print artists' and photographers' work, non-artist family photos, and the photos we sell in our store. We digitize artwork using a scanner or camera. We also do restoration and some alteration work.
Last year we did around 250k in sales. That was more than my wife and I wanted to handle on our owne like keeping it just the two of us, so we cut our hours from 8 hours a day to 6 hours a day to reduce sales. We also used to do picture framing, and we sold that part of the business mid-way through last year. This year we're on track to do about 200k; that's a more comfortable lifestyle for us and our dog.
We're in a brand new mall (we were one of the first tenants to open) and many of the spaces are still being filled in. Dominos pizza opened a few doors down from us just this week; Popeye's chicken is slated to open on the other side of us a few months later. Coco Cantina is right next door with a view in our windows; we got a good amount of business from there after people ate dinner when we used to stay open later. There are several more tenants opening in the next year, and soon the mall will be fully occupied. After that the quiet lifestyle is likely to end.
A lot of our business is family pictures from peoples' cell phones, which we are happy to fix up a little before we make prints. We don't offer small paper prints. Our least expensive option is a $20 metal print, with most base prints running around $50. All of that makes it worth my time to spend a few minutes prep on images in photoshop to make everyone happy.
We own everything, except for the digital press, which is on lease for around $450/month.
We have enough aluminum, media, laminate, etc to produce over 200k in product. We also have about 100k in equipment... maybe a little more. The lease has another 2 1/2 years on it with a 5 year option to renew. It is a little over $3/ft with standard small increases each year, and we have 1,200 sq ft. We also pay for utilities and general mall stuff, like cleaning and security. They do a great job and are super friendly. All in all the rent, utilities, internet, insurance, and other stuff runs a little under 6k per month.
We also have a cute little home very near the ocean, about 5 miles from the store. It is close enough to hear the waves crashing at night, but far enough away to not get salt spray. It is 1 bedroom with 1 bath and a nice kitchen. The house is fully permitted and has 12 good sized solar panels. There are two unpermitted outbuildings: a cute little jungle studio in back and a wood shop.
Both the business and the home are available, and we're getting a lot of interest. We've asked our dear friend/realtor/neighbor Galyn at Hilo Bay Realty to help us sell.
We are glad to train at the shop and are flexible about our departure date.
Harry and Mouse Durgin
808-731-4819