30 years for FASTSIGNS

Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce joined FASTSIGNS as it celebrated 30 years of operation with a ribbon cutting at its West Knoxville location, 8333 Gleason Drive, Wednesday, Dec. 8.

“I believe it’s a great example of the business overall in regard to the products and the services that we sell,” Daniel Maw, owner of the West Knoxville franchise, said about the 30 years.

“Every business needs some form of a sign,” Maw added. “Because of that, it is definitely a needed business in every community, so (Dec. 8) the Chamber helped us celebrate the 30 years of FASTSIGNS being able to offer quality products and services here in the Knoxville market.”

He also told of how FASTSIGNS has grown worldwide. “There are almost 800 FASTSIGNS centers all over the world,” Maw said. “We are in Italy; London; England; Berlin, Germany; Canada; Mexico; and Japan.

“We’ve been able to deliver these products and services with an affordable price,” he added. “We’re not the most expensive, but we’re really big on product quality.

“We’re also proud of the fact that we produce over 80 percent of our products here in Knoxville, at our production center. We have 4,000 square feet in the back (of the retail portion) that produces most of the stuff that we sell.

The center “been a blessing for us because of some of the shortages of materials and so on, people who have to get a vendor for most of their orders are struggling right now,” Maw said. “They’re having to wait for other companies to produce their product … we’re not having to wait quite as much.”

Maw, who chairs FWKCC Ambassadors, added, “As we gain experience in the market, we begin to grow more toward business clients; but yet, we’re also able to continue to take care of the local individuals and retailers.

“As we grow, we’re blessed to have the resources to be able to manage and provide for large commercial and industrial products.”

FASTSiGNS has two product managers onsite and three offices in the facility, so an owner of a large commercial company “can come in and we can provide signage, from the smallest to biggest need that you may have,” Maw said.

“But, we now have the space with a mini board room, where we can do a presentation on screen … and do (presentations) by video now,” he added.

“Those things just come with time, and we’ve been blessed to add some of this here over the last few years.”

Originally located across from McDonald’s along

Kingston Pike near Bearden High School, FASTSIGNS, opened in 1991 under David and Nancy Harter. Maw bought it four-and-a-half years ago.

He explained the company produces and offers all realms of signage.

“We rebranded Farragut High School’s football stadium,” Maw added. “Probably the only thing we don’t do is billboards on the highway.

“We print. We do whatever your requests are,” he added. “We have a truck bay in the back, where we can wrap vehicles.

“This past summer, we actually wrapped three oil tankers.”

The company also provides real estate signage.

“We can produce those right here, and what gives us the advantage is we don’t have to order them from somebody else and wait on them,” Maw said. “We print them right here and then we install them.

“Our slogan is ‘We are more than fast and we are more than signs’ because we offer so much more.”

In addition to walk-in service, customers can visit online at fastsigns.com (look for Center 134) or by e-mail at 134@fastsigns.com