We had the good fortune of connecting with Glen Coy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Glen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I opened a skateboard shop when I was a senior in high school way back in 2000. During the 17-year run of the business, I noticed a massive void in the custom garment printing industry in our area. In 2015 I bought a small screen printing press for $3,000, and hired someone to teach me how to use all of the equipment. We set up it in the back of the skate shop, and quickly had things up and running.

What should our readers know about your business?
Windmill City is a medium-sized screen printing, embroidery, and custom merch company. We started in 2015 with a $3,000 manual screen printing press. We provide retail-ready products, specializing in soft-hand inks and sustainability in the manufacturing process.

Our favorite part of the business is getting to work with really amazing clients, many of whom are close friends of ours. Last year we produced all the merch for Stagecoach Music Fest. It’s pretty insane being thousands of miles away from home while on a trip and seeing something you printed.

I started the print shop in a very small space, with a near-to-nothing budget, and zero experience in the manufacturing world. I hired an experienced printer to teach me the steps and quickly got the hang of it. Business quickly took off so I decided to sell my skateboard shop to focus on this new venture. The next 3 years were very slow growth, just learning as much about the printing process as I could. My wife then joined the company and started to focus on the actual business side of things. We bought an automatic screen printing press so we could print about 15 times faster, and started to use industry-specific software to run the sales. Our team quickly grew from 3 employees to 17. In 2020 we moved to an 8,000 sq ft warehouse, upgraded all our equipment and added some more presses, increased our embroidery department and opened a retail store in downtown Palm Sprigns featuring local artists and clients of ours. 90% of the items in the store are manufactured by us.

Our largest asset is that we’ve been on the opposite side of this business. Owning and operating a retail store has helped us get into the minds of our clients. We typically know the products they will be interested in before they do. So naturally, sales have come easy. Customer service is #1. If we can keep the clients happy with service, and we know their products are top-tier, business will continue to do well.

Sales for this sort if item/service come very easily. Every company, band, non-profit, store, restaurant, etc needs custom merch. The hard part is the actual manufacturing process, equipment issues, human resources, cash flow management, etc. I wish I had an answer for that stuff, but it’s a never ending battle.

The biggest challenge is labor. The biggest lesson I’ve learned personally is to find a hard-working, trustworthy, and loyal crew. And once you do, try to keep them happy. Things run much smoother when you have people in place who can be trusted to put the fires out for you. Once you have that you can handle big picture issues.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d stay in Palm Springs proper. A little hike around the Indian Canyons in the morning, coffee at Koffi. Then a little bike ride around the neighborhoods looking at all the architecture. Lunch at El Mirasol, soak in a spa then a little nap. Drinks at Las Palmas before dinner at El Mirasol, then a little souvenir shopping at our retail store, Windmill City Super #1. Maybe drinks again at Las Palmas (next door). I’d also rent a car one day and drive around Joshua Tree. Make sure to watch the sunset at Keys View, then drive out of the south entrance of the park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout my senior high school photography teacher, Matt Cauthron. He opened my eyes to the art world, and put a fun spin on it. Not only has he done this for me, but almost all of my close friends as well. He’s been a huge inspiration to all of us.

Website: windmill.city

Instagram: @windmillcityscreenprinting AND @super.number.one

Image Credits
these were all taken by me

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