Hey there, fans and friends! We hope everyone had a safe and fun-filled Halloween. Binging on miniature chocolate bars has temporarily quieted the tiny little sugar-demanding monster inside of us, so we’re energized, excited, and ready to finish the year on a high note.
October is gone, and so are most of the leaves on the trees in beautiful Maplewood, Missouri. We’ll probably see twinkle lights and Christmas displays in the windows soon, and we’re actually almost excited for Snowmageddon: Round 2 to cover the streets and shops with a blanket of white. Notice we said “almost.” Snow is cold.
Then again, Stone Spiral Coffee is toasty warm and smells like caffeinated heaven. So, we’ll probably survive the winter.
Tiny Little Monster’s Not-So-Tiny Growth!
Over the past three years, our lovely community here in Maplewood has started to feel like a member of the Tiny Little Monster family. So, when it came time to initiate Phase 2 of Operation: Grow Tiny and Make it More Awesome, there was no question where our expansion would be located!
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud as punch to introduce the brand new, gigantic, enormous, cavernous halls of Tiny Little Monster’s first-ever second location! Ok, that was a mouthful, so let us break it down for you.
We started Tiny Little Monster three years ago in the basement of our house. Yes, the basement, cobwebs and all. We wanted to bring a fresh new face to screen printing in St. Louis, and with the help of our amazing customers, we started to grow faster than we ever could have expected. We opened our storefront on Manchester in Maplewood because we loved the historic feel of the building. It was big, bright, and airy, and we just knew it was going to be a perfect fit.
And it was. For awhile.
But Tiny Little Monster kept right on growing. In the past two months, we’ve added FOUR new professionals to our hardworking staff. Wait, you haven’t heard this? You haven’t been introduced? Well, let’s remedy that!
The League of Extraordinary T-Shirt Printing Professionals
Miles B. is our newest addition to our screen print team. He’s a fabulous screen printer, and we’re pretty sure his veins are flowing with eco-friendly ink. Which is convenient in reducing operating costs, but also a sort of medical mystery (i.e. Please don’t tell the government about him).
Phillip Parker is another screen printing professional. He’s got over 15 years of experience in the industry, and our tiny little monster hearts are pounding with excitement since he joined the team. Also, we’re pretty sure “Phillip Parker” is just the name of his alter ego, so he may or may not moonlight as a superhero.
Daniel Wamhoff is our DTG Lead. Remember that shiny, powerful, jaw-dropping Direct-to-Garment printer we added to our shop? Well, Daniel is the guy with the know-how. His favorite book in the world is the DTG Operator’s Manual, and he’s still waiting to hear back from Oprah about including it in her monthly book club. Good luck, Dan.
Finally, there’s Emily Prange. She’s our brand-new Office Assistant, and she comes to us from gorgeous Colorado. Since she’s used to the mountains in her backyard, we thought she’d be pretty perfect at tackling the mountains of paperwork on our desks. And we were right!
So, wow. New employees. New customers. New growth. Our charming storefront on Manchester was becoming about as charming as a one-room log cabin would have been for the entire Osmond family. What was a Not-So-Tiny Little Monster to do?
Enter: New Location, Stage Left!
Fulfilling T-Shirt Orders Better, Faster, and With Fewer Collisions
Tiny Little Monster’s production process has been relocated to a 2400 square foot warehouse on St. Elmo Street in Maplewood. This is great for us because it means our screen printing team can actually stretch out their arms without bumping elbows with our designers and customer service team.
We’ll be adding another automatic press in the near future, which means that Tiny Little Monster will soon be DOUBLING production. This is going to allow us to complete orders more quickly, handle larger orders with greater efficiency, and keep right on growing to satisfy the needs of our beloved customers.
Did we mention the part about DOUBLING production? We did? Oh good.
This is just Phase 2 in our long-term growth plan. There’s more amazing news on the horizon, and we can’t wait to share it with you.
It’s Alive… A Tiny Little Monster Fable
For now, we’ll leave you with a classic fable from our childhood. You know that story about the Tortoise and the Hare? They run a race, and the Tortoise ends up winning because he plodded along slow and steady while the Hare wore himself out by running at breakneck speed?
(Incidentally, Tiny Little Monster should have done the T-shirts for that race. We love doing shirts for charity races, 5Ks, walkathons, and other sporting events. Ok, shameless plug over.)
Well, we’re introducing a new character into the story. What they didn’t tell you in that other version is that Dr. Frankenstein sewed a rabbit and a turtle together at the last minute. He ran a few thousand volts through his tiny little creation, gave it a bottle of Gatorade, and entered it into the race. This Turtle-Rabbit monster ran at faster than anyone could have anticipated BUT it was also steady and reliable, pacing itself with long-term goals and plans for the future!
That Tiny Little Monster won the race, in part, because it was made out of the best of both worlds. But really, we’re pretty sure it really won the race because the sidelines were crowded with the best fans in the whole world. So thanks for cheering us on, guys. It’s made all the difference.
Ok, gotta dash. We’re all headed to the warehouse to stretch our arms out and maybe play a game of Red Rover.
