Oregon Shop Relocates, Hits the Ground Running

Vital Signs NW recently relocated its shop from Milwaukie, Oregon to Winston, Oregon, a 185-mile move. The company, which offers everything from personalized drinkware to apparel, purchased its new building in October of 2017 but wasn’t able to make the move until March 2018. While it was a long haul to get to the new building, it isn’t the first move the business has made.

What started out as a home-based business rapidly grew into something bigger, according to owner Lenny Huiras. “We moved from our home-based business into our first storefront in 2015, and we grew rapidly once we had (that) storefront,” he states. Once there, the company started experiencing issues from parking to HVAC problems. After being in that location for only two years, they started to look for a new spot to set up shop.

“Relocating was quite the orchestra,” Huiras laughs. Most of Vital Signs’ customers are online, with some walk-through traffic, so that helped the move. “We didn’t want to put our stores in vacation mode or take them off line, so we completed all jobs that were in the queue and started unplugging computers and equipment and began loading up a fleet of trucks and trailers,” he says. From there, staff, friends, and family caravanned 3 1/2 hours to the new location.

Huiras adds that the move took over six weeks to complete. “Nothing really went where it belonged at first but as long as we were operational, we knew we could start running jobs again,” he says. And although the company is still making tweaks, things are running efficiently.

Two employees were able to make the move, while another two were unable to do so. Huiras chalks it up to the adventure that is life. “We are excited about the addition of two new staff members to help us keep up with our continued growth,” he says.

When it comes to the future outlook of the company, Huiras is excited, stating that Vital Signs has been flooded with local business. “After our move we have grown at a faster pace than before… I have always been an entrepreneur at heart – I believe the meaning of entrepreneur (is) to take risks, and understand that those risks are not always successful, there is not always a reward for your hard work, but you get up and do it anyway.”

For more information on Vital Signs NW, check out www.vitalsignsnw.com.