Oswego’s Speedway Press acquires the Phoenix Press

OSWEGO — Speedway Press, an Oswego–based provider of printing, signage, and marketing products, has acquired the Phoenix Press at 594 Main St. in Phoenix.

Neither firm disclosed terms of their acquisition agreement. The deal became effective on May 15.

Speedway Press operates in an 8,000-square-foot building at 1 Burkle St. in Oswego. 

“It was a very simple acquisition,” says John Henry, president and CEO of Speedway Press parent company, Mitchell Printing & Mailing, Inc. “[Phoenix Press] sold [its] building to another person. We took the accounts and some of the equipment and name and telephone number.”

Speedway Press self-financed the acquisition, he notes.

“The website will continue. Their phone number we are picking up, and it’ll be brought into the Speedway Press group,” Henry told CNYBJ in a phone interview on May 16.

Speedway Press has eight employees. It will add a ninth employee from the Phoenix Press acquisition. Speedway Press anticipates hiring additional people during the next year following the acquisition. “We’re thinking one to two,” says Henry.

Barbara Reyes was the sole owner of the Phoenix Press. Both Reyes and her husband are retiring, and a third employee will join Mitchell’s Speedway Press as a press operator, Henry says. 

“As it was time to retire, [Reyes and her husband] wanted to find a good partner for our customers. We did not want to just close or let just anyone take over accounts we have worked with for decades. I have worked with John and Kathy for many years and know they will be the right people to continue the work we have done with our clients, as we share the same values and commitments to our customers. Mitchell’s technology and manufacturing expertise will ensure our customers are in great hands and get to the next level,” Reyes said in a statement.

Reyes is helping Speedway Press during the transition with any questions, says Henry. 

Working relationship

Speedway Press has worked with the Phoenix Press for several years, and each company had some capabilities that the other one didn’t. 

“We’ve been friendly competitors, but more so, we actually helped each other out as we went along over the past 10 years,” says Henry.

At one point, Henry had told Reyes that they should talk before Reyes decides to retire. Several days before the acquisition closed, Reyes informed Henry that she had a purchase offer on her building.

The two sides then had “really quick, serious discussions” about how Speedway Press could acquire the other assets of Phoenix Press, according to Henry.

“Phoenix Press has an incredibly loyal customer base and an excellent reputation for value and service. We are lucky and honored that Barbara would choose us to entrust her business and her clients to. We promise to serve them well,” Kathy Henry, VP and director of sales and marketing at Speedway Press, said in a statement. 

Speedway Press added about 400 accounts with the Phoenix Press acquisition, says Henry. Speedway had serviced more than 1,000 accounts prior to the acquisition.

Its clients include SUNY Oswego, the City of Oswego, Pathfinder Bank (NASDAQ: PBHC), and Syracuse–based Carrols Restaurant Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TAST). It also handles race programs for about 50 racetracks nationwide, according to Henry. 

Henry’s grandfather, Weir P. Mitchell, founded Mitchell Printing in 1930. 

The Henrys purchased the business in 1990 and started Mitchell Printing & Mailing, Inc. They later acquired Speedway Press in 2008, moving Mitchell Printing into the Speedway Press building at 1 Burkle Street in Oswego, where it operates today.