Offset Promotions brings new life, new possibilities to Fourth Street

It’s hard to resist the urge to walk into Offset Promotions, the extension of the Woods Printing Company established on Huntingburg’s Fourth Street.

Tall, clear windows frame an alcoved entrance that didn’t exist two years ago but now invites anyone strolling by to peer into the shotgun-style depths of the historic building. The low lighting and high ceilings only allow you to peer so far into the building necessitating a step through the door to take in what Devin and Brian Craig have created.

“We had a client tell us this (building) didn’t belong on Fourth Street,” Brian said. “He said it belonged in New York City.”

They’ve also had clients in from Chicago who were amazed by the newly restored historic building as well as the developing streetscape in the town of 6000-plus residents nestled in Southern Indiana.

But Huntingburg has been going through a transformation these past few years and businesses and property owners are following suit. While Fourth Street has been transformed — naysayers and otherwise, with the work of building owners like Devin and Brian and others on the street, the historic buildings of the iconic downtown are making their own mark and finding new life while accenting the area’s commercial history.

Brian and Devin are co-owners of Holland-based Woods Printing Company with Devin’s parents, David and Sharon Springston.

For Devin and Brian, the move onto Fourth Street was predicated by the need for more room and a showroom for Woods Printing Company’s promotional division. Devin is CEO of the Holland company and she heads up the promotional side.

According to Brian, since launching it in 2015 in response to their clients’ requests, Offset Promotions has become the Holland company’s fastest-growing division. And with that growth, it became apparent that Offset needed its own space.

“My office at Woods (in Holland) was filling up with samples and ideas,” Devin said.

She knew there was a need for a place to display all these unique marketing ideas and give customers a tactile experience with the potential for their marketing needs. Additionally, with the growing printing business, they needed an elegant space to meet with their corporate clients.

“We work with a lot of large businesses who have these beautiful corporate headquarters, and we wanted to have a space where they could come and still be inspired with the things that they are working on with us,” Devin said.

In late 2017, Brian happened to be waiting in the car on Fourth Street when he noticed the ‘for sale’ sign in the building across the street from where he was parked. The building had been many things over the past 20 years — a bookstore, antique store and consignment shop among others. When Devin got back in the car, Brian told her he had a crazy idea for her new office.

A walk through the building and seeing its high, tin-covered ceilings and exposed brick as well as the appreciation the couple has for Huntingburg’s downtown, convinced them it was where they wanted to be.

“I’ve always been drawn to historical buildings,” Devin said. “But along with that, the larger vision of the street, which you can see now, was something we really felt was exciting for our community and we wanted to be part of it.”

A few months later, they had purchased the building and began to appraise ideas for the new space. Unfortunately, the building came with many difficulties; a leaking roof, poor drainage, rotten wood, and more. While working through these problems to create their vision was difficult, the historical context of the building became more apparent and has been used to create a unique aesthetic for the space.

After ripping out everything to the dirt basement — where Devin found a perfectly preserved Uhl coffee cup among other things — they rebuilt the interior from the ground up.

“Yeah. I have questioned our sanity,” Brian commented.

Offset Promotions takes up about a third of the building. Another smaller space next door is still unfinished but may become another extension of Woods Printing and Offset Promotions. Upstairs has plenty of potential as an additional business or a beautiful apartment with views up and down Fourth Street.

But the company is already reaping the rewards of the new space as mentioned earlier with clients commenting on it and passing strollers stopping in because of the invitational entrance.

“Sometimes folks just come in and wander around checking out the building,” Devin said.

Along with that, they have even landed new clients based on an appreciation for the amount of dedication and investment it takes to bring a vision like theirs to a historic building on the iconic street.

The space has also allowed Devin and her team more flexibility in demonstrating what Woods and Offset can offer clients in terms of complete marketing packages. The building is filled with logo-emblazoned items ranging from leather handbags, satchels, backpacks, a bicycle and headphones to chocolate bars and custom guitars. There are also high quality t-shirts, embroidered items and unique electronic pieces and more.

It’s no longer about throw-away pens and magnets; Offset Promotions’ offerings have the potential to become someone’s — whether a potential client or a prized employee — favorite piece.

Along with the potential for those items to get a company’s message across, Offset Promotions can also help with creating and managing fundraisers for smaller groups like booster clubs and community events.

From creating graphics with its in-house graphic design team to taking orders through an online portal and then distributing items, the company can cover a large gamut of digital and physical needs for any client.

For Devin and Brian, the company’s success is built on working with clients to provide them unique and high-quality products that fit their needs.

“Those relationships are important,” Devin said. “I love finding the pieces that work for customers and are going to make an impact. Those pieces that make people go, ‘Wow, this is really nice’ and creating something they really want to use on a daily basis.”

Offset Promotions has a website here and can be reached by phone at 800-796-1523. Check out some of their designs on Facebook and Instagram.