EVERETT — In the lobby at Labels Plus in south Everett is a cabinet full of jars and bottles, all different shapes and sizes, from many businesses across the country.
The one thing they have in common is the colorful, stand out, sometimes fancy labels they show reflecting the hard work and determination of Eric Phillips, the owner who started the business.
“My husband always said, ‘You take good care of your customers and they’ll take good care of you,’ ” said Kathleen Carrera, president of Labels Plus.
That principle and a focus on good customer service is part of the dedication that Carrera using to move ahead without her husband by her side following Phillips’ death in July 2012.
Labels Plus has been in business for more than 35 years and offers full-service custom label design and printing from their offices in south Everett.
The labels, brochures, static cling window stickers, business cards, table tents, letterhead stationary and other products are sent to business owners in Snohomish County and throughout the U.S.
“Eric started in a garage,” Carrera said.
In the early 1980s when the business grew too big for his small space, Phillips moved the company to south Everett, where it remains.
“Nobody could keep up with Eric,” Carrera said. “He loved what he did.”
Phillips was able to offer customers new product lines with great pricing and quality to match.
When Carrera came on board in the early 1990s, she learned a lot about the business by osmosis. She and Phillips traveled to trade shows where she met and mingled with entrepreneurs, business owners and clients.
Labels created in Everett go on skin care products, pharmaceuticals and hazardous materials. The fishing industry uses the company’s pressure-sensitive labels and dive decals. Their labels are on bottles of sauces, jars of food and bags of coffee.
Seattle’s Best Coffee co-founder Dave Stewart, who now owns wholesale coffee roaster Vista Clara in Snohomish, has been a client at Labels Plus for 10 years.
“I heard about them and just took the logo to Labels Plus,” Stewart said.
He puts them on his bags of ground coffee and coffee beans, of which there are a few thousand pounds roasted per week.
“Our coffee is roasted to order fresh every week,” Stewart said. “It is roasted and packaged in somewhat of a rapid turnover.”
The coffee is sold to local restaurants and coffee stands and shipped as far as the East Coast.
But Stewart does like working with a local company where he can pick up the labels himself.
“It’s nice when you can reach out and touch the people you work with,” he said.
Community and family are important to Carrera and the staff at Labels Plus. Some employees have worked with the company for 20 or 30 years, she said.
Taking over the helm has meant delegating and finding more staff for the growing business.
“It’s so important to delegate,” Carrera said. “Women are wired for multitasking. We take it all on.”
Five staff members have been hired recently to help with increasing business and the push to grow and expand.
“It’s fun to come into change and keep it growing,” said Lori Kovalick, marketing and brand manager at Labels Plus.
Kovalick joined the company in July. She has a background in labels and is eager to keep moving forward with the digital trends sweeping the industry. Labels Plus is on Facebook and will soon join Pinterest.
Carrera remains vibrant and positive about the future while enjoying putting her late husband’s ideas into place. Phillips didn’t have a specific growth plan for the business, but Carrera is able to see what he would have wanted and make it happen.
“We are being architects of our future,” Carrera said.
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