Depend on death, taxes & signs

For some businesses, the economy just doesn’t matter PORT JERVIS, N.Y. — “My business is recession proof,” says Howard Vorbis of Sign Here in Port Jervis. Sign Here is a commercial sign manufacturer which makes signs using vinyl lettering for small and large indoor and outdoor signs, hand made neon signs in as many as 24 colors on up to very large signs for car dealers and other businesses. Vorbis’ large bucket truck allows him to erect signs as high as 130 feet above the ground. He says that during bad economic times the sign business continues to do well because other businesses need to do more sign advertising to bring in customers. When the Courier was interviewing Vorbis he was changing some vinyl lettering on a banner sign he made for a pizza shop three years ago. “I may not be getting the $250 for making a new sign but I’ve been doing changes to this sign for three years at $80 each time,” Vorbis explained. Vorbis manufactures and installs medium to large lighted signs such as those car dealers use. “In the last two years I’ve been taking down those signs because new car showrooms have been closing at a rapid pace. The dealers don’t own their signs, the car manufacturer does. So if a dealer showroom closes, the car manufacturer like Ford, GM or Chrysler wants their name down right away. They don’t want anyone to see their name being associated with a failing business,” said Vorbis. Vorbis travels great distances for customers to install signs. His brochure shows Pa., N.Y., N.J., Conn., Mass. and Vt. are all within Sign Here’s travel distance for work. Vorbis told the Courier they are going to be working in Pa. near the Maryland border to do a sign job next week. Vorbis started in the sign business almost 20 years ago. He started by going to neon school at the N.Y. Experimental Glass Workshop in Brooklyn. After he completed his schooling he bought his first vinyl sign cutting machine and worked out of his apartment lettering trucks and making small signs for businesses. Now, many years later Sign Here occupies 10,000 indoor square feet of office, work shop and warehouse space, plus additional outside storage area for trucks and other equipment. The business employs four to five workers during the winter months and that generally increases to seven or eight during the summer months. “I have no family members working for me. My girlfriend, (of 15 years) Gail Bowdoin takes care of all office tasks and sign designing. If it weren’t for her we’d never have grown as large as we are now,” he admitted. “My original strategy was not to be known as a local sign company but as a regional sign company and it has worked,” Vorbis said. He attributes his success to hard work, perseverance, professionalism and a great reputation. Our best year was 2006 and last year we finished just a few thousand dollars less and this year looks good too,” he said. “We do well in good times and we do well in bad times and we’ll continue to move forward and grow as we have done for almost 20 years,” Vorbis said with a smile on his face.