Clark Loves Owning Print Shop

RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Owner Tammy Clark is pictured at Fourstate Printing in front of screen-printed items for sale.
RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Owner Tammy Clark is pictured at Fourstate Printing in front of screen-printed items for sale.

After 30 years in the printing industry, Tammy Clark of Fourstate Printing still loves her job.

Clark grew up in McDonald County and graduated from McDonald County High School in 1979. She began working for the McDonald County Press right out of high school, which was her lead-in to a job in printing, she said. She also worked at a label company in Kansas City. She attended Longview Community College in Grandview in 1985, where she majored in graphic design.

In 1988, she opened Fourstate Printing, just off Main Street in Anderson. She said at first she did some government contracting and a lot of local printing. Now she has customers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, making a "pretty good customer base throughout the four state area," she said. Her second location was on Highway 59, and then, in 1996, she built her current location in the industrial park in Anderson.

The company prints banners and signs for outdoor advertising and can print wraps for vehicles. It prints a lot of newsletters and a lot of brochures for campgrounds, Clark said.

About 10 years ago the company started printing apparel, and that has taken over as its main business, Clark said. The clothing side of the business is called County Clothing Company.

Ninety percent of her business is from other businesses, Clark said. That could include anyone from Walmart to a handyman. Yes, Walmart has come to her for T-shirts for its general offices, she said. The school system is a good customer, she added, and she does printing for other schools as well. A lot of churches have shirts printed, and Fourstate Printing also prints a lot of uniforms for summer ball teams, she said.

There are five employees at the business, and three of them, including Clark, do graphic design. When customers come in, maybe some who do not know what they want, Clark shows them ideas, creates a design, helps them pick from apparel, works with their budget and the project goes into production. All screen printing is done on site. Clark said they can put up to seven colors on a shirt.

In the front of the business, screen printed merchandise is for sale.

In addition to her responsibilities at work, Clark served nine years on the McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Education. She rolled off a few years ago.

"It was fun. I enjoyed it. At the nine-year point, you feel there need to be new voices, new opinions. But I miss it. I really did enjoy doing that," she said.

As for future plans, Clark said, "At some point, I would like to retire. It's pretty tough when you own your own business."

She and her husband Roger own an RV and take a lot of weekend trips. They would like to take a long trip together, she said.

Asked to what she attributes her success, Clark said, "Our amazing community, the businesses and the people in our area are very dedicated to a shop local when possible. That is also what I love about my job. After 30 years of ownership, I enjoy coming to work every day, meeting new people, talking to established customers and putting their ideas into a product that they love."

General News on 03/08/2018