Joseph and Julie Campbell opened Julie’s Cup of Joe (JCOJ) coffee shop in August 2000. After retiring from professional food service and hospitality careers, this entrepreneurial couple decided to work for themselves while giving back to others. Notably, JCOJ works closely with special needs organizations and individuals to provide meaningful work, experience, and opportunity for the special needs community. The aptly named café is in a small, quaint shoreline town known as Westbrook, Connecticut with a year-round population of roughly 2,300 people. From the day they opened, business was booming and continues to grow.
Brian Campbell, Joe’s brother, and owner of a local on-demand specialty products print company, surprised the family with a round of drinkware engraved and printed with the coffee shop’s logo. Brian suggested putting them on the shelf to “see what happens”. Everyone was pleasantly surprised as the branded merchandise flew off the shelves. They have since expanded their products to include t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, and more; bringing in more than $11,500 a year in branded merchandise revenue.
Joseph Campbell sees the extra revenue this way: “Every small retailer has an opportunity to leverage what I call peripheral revenue”, adding ”I also use branded products to support community events like fundraising, auctions, and community marketing activities.” His brother agrees and has decided to focus on helping small, independent retailers accomplish the same objectives. “On one hand, every time someone buys something with your logo on it – that’s called advertising”, said Brian Campbell, President of Pexagon Technology, “On the other hand, it’s more money available to a small business be it for advertising, charity or contribution to the bottom line.”
About Pexagon Technology:
Pexagon is an on-demand print company offering unique custom products. The company’s Custom Retail Merchandise program offers drinkware and other hard goods in four-packs and six-packs so retailers can offer products with their logo with very low investment and risk. Custom Retail Merchandise programs are priced “all in” such that the wholesale cost includes customization. You can always count on $10 Flat Rate Shipping regardless of how much you buy!
For more information, please send an email to tfair@pexagontech.com.