NW Signs spreading the message

NW Signs owner Brian Stoddard is donating a sign worth up to $10,000 to a downtown Monroe business.

The company previously operated in Duvall, and moved into the city last December. Staff is working with the Downtown Monroe Association to offer the donation to help with the organization’s revitalization strategy. Stoddard came up with the plan “to kill two birds with one stone,” said NW Signs business development manager Jeff Baxter.

“We wanted to let folks know we are here and can help, and at the same time create a sign and help out a business, and show others what they can do to promote their business,” he said.

The offer includes design, fabrication and installation. The wining business will have to pay for all associated permitting fees.

The corporations in town won’t qualify, Baxter said. It is just the downtown businesses being offered the option, he said.

“National chains are going to have the type of signage they are going to have, and they are going to do well without our help,” he said.

Only a handful of people have applied so far, but at least a few more are interested, Baxter said. Staff hope to use the final product as a way to gauge how signage can be useful for small businesses in the area.

The company purchased the building on Beaton Road Southeast, which United Plumbing previously rented, Baxter said. NW Signs started with only one person on the payroll about four years ago, and has grown into a company of more than a dozen people. The business was hired to build a sign for a Seahawks exhibit at the Experience Music Project — now MoPOP — in Seattle about two years ago, he said.

Baxter said he hopes to show downtown business owners the impacts of creating an engaging storefront, “because the experience starts on the outside.”