VGKids is an Ypsilanti company, and it's going to stay an Ypsilanti company. So sayeth its founder,
James Marks, who means it enough to move out of state but keep his company in the city he has called home for more than a decade.
Marks and his wife (an Ypsilanti native) recently moved to Berkley, California, for a change of pace in life. They decided to keep VGKids in Ypsilanti with a local management team running the company's day-to-day operations. "
VGKids will stay in Ypsilanti," Marks says. "There is no danger of it moving to California."
Which is a good thing because the 12-year-old company continues to grow. The firm recently hired one person, expanding its staff to 14 people. Marks expects his company to hire at least one more person this year. "We will keep growing slowly, and steadily," Marks says.
VGKids is a printing company specializing in things like t-shirts and cards. It has watched sales go up by 25 percent over the last year. It recently started a merchandising arm called Whiplash, which has grown so fast that it is looking to set up its own space in Ann Arbor soon.
"We're growing bigger," Marks says. "We're running out of physical space."
Source: James Marks, founder & creative director of VGKids
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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