by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Chances are very good that the sign marking the entrance to your finished or soon-to-be-built subdivision is the work of Ann Hicks and her staff as Arrow Sign and Stephens Advertising Inc. In fact, it’s likely that Arrow Sign produced just about any sign you see about town.
“People don’t realize what we can make,” said Frank Cassani, who has been with Hicks for all but one year of the company’s 23-year existence. “If it can sit still, we can make an image of it.”
The company was founded in 1982 by Hicks and Bob Stephens and they had one employee — Brooks Brandal. Today the company has 10 employees but that modest growth is hardly indicative of the many-fold increase in business. Arrow and Stephens has 10 employees who can all do just about anything and no sales staff.
“We have grown by word-of-mouth,” said Hicks. “The first year I did some outside sales. Some of the customers we had then are still customers today. Many have been bought by other companies, but they are still customers. We made signs for Centex Homes when they were still the Arms Corporation. We have made a lot of signs for a lot of years for Charlie Hilyer at St. Johns Realty.”
It’s impossible to say that Arrow specializes in anything. In fact, as Cassani says, it’s easier to mention what they won’t do.
“We don’t make electrical signs,” he said. “We don’t farm anything out. We do our own welding, plumbing and painting.”
Arrow is on E. Union in an obscure warehouse just north of the Matthews Bridge expressway. While the company is tucked away in a part of downtown most have never seen, its work is highly visible: decals on gas pumps, official signs for the City of Orange Park, banners, vehicle wraps, some of the original Jaguars signs at Alltel Stadium and, perhaps most visibly, signs for real estate brokers and developers.
Among Arrow’s client list are Richmond American Homes, Lifestyles Realtors, Beazer Homes, Magnolia Properties and many others. They make everything from small 18-by-24-inch yard signs to box signs announcing the development of 125 single-family homes to the permanent, concrete-set signs that mark the entrances to new communities all over Northeast Florida. Hicks said it’s difficult to gauge how many signs Arrow creates a year. Cassani said they go through about 30,000 sheets of Coroplast (corrugated plastic), the basis for most outdoor signs because of the material’s durability.
Besides the enormity of Arrow’s space — the company has more than 25,000 square feet of design and build space in addition to several offices — another thing is apparent: all of the employees, from Hicks down, get along well personally and professionally. Both Hicks and Cassani agree that a family-like relationship and atmosphere has contributed as much as anything to the company’s success.
“For big projects we all come together,” said Hicks.
“We can all do everything and we get along really well,” said Cassani.
The company has done work for the Puerto Rico Police Department as well as the Border Patrol Office in St. Augustine and the Department of Homeland Security. While much of what Arrow produces is fairly straightforward, there is room for creativity. A wall in the conference room looks like a giant comic book scene done in black and while. Arrow also has done printing for speed boat restorations and other off-beat projects. Then there was the ostrich egg project.
“The strangest thing we ever did was the printing for the control panel on an ostrich egg incubator,” said Hicks.