Thomas Reprographics Celebrates 50 Years

Bebop and Blueprints

From Elvis’ debut and poodle skirts to Woodstock and hip huggers, the ‘50s and ‘60s changed from a society of social conformers to culture makers.

In March of 1956, BJ Thomas purchased a branch of Central Blueprint to open the first Thomas Blueprint on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, Texas with four employees. His goal was to offer traditional blueprints and photo stats to the A/E/C industry outside of downtown Dallas. BJ focused on offering scheduled pick-up and delivery services which made each of the Thomas Blueprint locations a one-stop source for practically any printing need. Deliveries were made by truck or bicycle in the late ‘50s, and in the next decade, Volkswagen Beetles were added to the fleet.

At 13 years old, BJ’s son, Bill, began working for the company during summer breaks. He started out sweeping the floors and making delivery runs, and eventually worked his way to sales and management.

In the mid '60s, BJ opened a new location in Richardson, Texas to service a contract with Texas Instruments for precision photographic services and offset printing. today, Thomas still has a location in Richardson, with which the corporate headquarters shares a building. Thomas Reprographics continues to enjoy a successful business relationship with TI to this day.

In 1967, Bill graduated from SMU with a Master’s degree and joined the staff full time. He performed multiple duties from sales to store manager. A year later, the company made its first major acquisition when BJ purchased Ray & Parma Blueprint in Dallas.

A lot has changed at Thomas Reprographics since we opened that first store on Greenville Avenue. But more importantly are the things that haven’t changed. For one thing, our original location is still successfully serving customers 50 years after opening its doors. And our desire to be your first choice for professional document services continues to be the driving force that pushes us toward the mark of perfection.

Large Format Printing and Large Format Hairstyles

They were the days of plaid pants, shag carpeting, and wide neckties. A president facing impeachment was forced to resign. Affirmative Action was the controversial policy of the day. Thomas Reprographics took it all in stride.

In 1973, BJ expanded the company’s reach outside of Dallas with the acquisition of Rapid Blueprint in Houston, Texas. Bill and his family moved to Houston so he could oversee this operation.

It wasn’t long before industry focus shifted to include large document and commercial copying, in addition to traditional blueprinting. The name of the company was changed to Thomas Reprographics because "blueprint" no longer encompassed the true scope of the industry. The new name reflected the expanding capabilities of an organization meeting the technical and economic demands of ever broadening markets.

In 1974, Thomas Reprographics built its first location from the ground up in Dallas. This store still services customers in the Carrollton and Farmers Branch areas today. The company continued to grow as Thomas Reprographics acquired Merit Reproductions in Dallas a few years later.

In 1974, BJ Thomas decided to retire and turned the reins of the company over to his son, Bill. Bill and his family moved back to Dallas so he could take over as President. Bob Knappage, a childhood friend of Bill, began his career at Thomas Reprographics and moved to Houston.

Halfway through the decade, the company experienced its first recession. At the time, it was the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. “Survive in ‘75” was the motto of the day, with the unemployment rate peaking at 9%.

Despite uncertain times, Thomas Reprographics continued to prosper, and by 1976, it had grown to about 87 employees. Bill’s thoughts turned from mere survival to expansion. He wanted to revamp the image of the traditional blueprint shop through remodeling and new equipment. It was an idea that continues on to this day, as Thomas Reprographics strives to be at the forefront of technological advances, providing quality printing with exceptional customer service. And that’s something that will never go out of style.

A Technological and Economic Boom

During the early ‘80s, the nation was experiencing an economic boom. Technology was growing by leaps and bounds, and the personal computer found its way into the home of the average person. Real estate expansion was on the rebound and business was looking great. It was a nice change from the recession the company had currently experienced.

Bill was heavily involved with PIN Graphics, writing manuals for this new service for the architectural community and holding seminars to educate the industry. Bill also kept busy serving as the president of the International Reprographic Association during this time. Meanwhile, Bill’s son, Bryan, joined the company, working summers at thirteen years old, just like his father.

In the late ‘80s, Thomas Reprographics joined ReproMAX, an organization for the exchange of reprographic information. As a ReproMAX partner, Thomas was able to tap into the knowledge and experience of many cutting edge reprographics firms across the globe and pass those benefits on to their customers.

Meanwhile, Bill was busy looking for other avenues to expand Thomas Reprographics into new markets. After receiving a call from L. David West of Phoenix Blueprint, they made an agreement and the company purchased them several months later.

Just as the recession of ‘75 was beginning to fade from memory, another recession hit by the middle of the decade, this one even more severe than the last. Growth and expansion halted across the US. Dallas and Houston were hit exceptionally hard for the second time in ten years. Bill realized the company was going to have to diversify their range of services during difficult times in order to survive. This is when they began to invest in new equipment to tap into the color market. Over the next few years, they purchased the Versatec for color plotting, color copiers, Cruse Cameras for color photographic work and eventually several Inkjets. The company’s customer base began to broaden to include advertising agencies and designers.

Still trying to expand despite an economic downturn, a year later Thomas Reprographics acquired Western Blueprint in Phoenix and Horn Blueprint in Dallas. After twelve years with the company, Bob Knappage was named Vice President.

By the mid ‘80s, CAD had become the way of life for the architectural community, and Thomas Reprographics eagerly adopted the new technology. This crucial turning point became the segue into the Internet Age of the ‘90s.

Meeting the Challenging Demands of a High Tech Future

1992 marked the beginning of the Internet Age with the birth of the worldwide web. The way we communicated, spent money and did business changed forever.

In the early nineties, Thomas Reprographics began laying the groundwork for what would evolve into something several of our customers can’t live without: On-Site Services. The first pieces of equipment placed in customers’ offices were modems, which at the time, cost upwards of $1000!

Still striving to expand the company into new territories, Bill opened a color lab in San Francisco called Color Expressions in 1992. Two years later, Bryan Thomas, who had just graduated from SMU with a Master’s degree, joined the management team and ran Color Expressions for one year.

Bill, Bob and Bryan then decided to create a new concept for our locations. Each city would have a "Superstore" that pooled all the digital and technical knowledge into one place. All the smaller locations would handle Diazo printing, plain paper copying and small-format color, but the special jobs would be funneled to the Superstore where work on the Cruse Camera, Heidelberg press, Durst Lambda photo printer and the CLC 1000 color copier would be performed by trained technicians. The Superstores would all run multiple shifts in the specialized departments to meet the demands of our customers and their deadlines. The first Superstore was opened in Phoenix, Arizona in 1995.

In order to keep up with the changing face of technology, Thomas Reprographics underwent a facelift of its own. A new logo was adapted, new fleet graphics were applied to the delivery vehicles, and new store signage was installed.

The company experienced a growth spurt in the mid ‘90s through several acquisitions in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Bryan moved back from San Francisco to take a more active role in the corporate operation. Kent Long, a Dallas assistant manager, moved to San Francisco to take over where Bryan left off at Color Expressions. Then, In 1997, Bill’s daughter, Brianna, joined the staff as Marketing Director after graduating from the University of Arizona. A year later, Bryan was named President and Bill became the CEO for the company.

Continuing with the Superstore concept, Dallas got their own Superstore in a new “turn of the century” feel building Uptown. Kent Long moved back to Dallas as District Manager for the city. Later, Bob moved to Phoenix to oversee the continuous growth and expansion happening there. In 1999, Kent and Brianna were married.

January 1, 2000 arrived right on schedule. No airplanes fell from the sky, and missiles didn’t launch themselves. Business went on as usual, as Thomas faced the most monumental year for acquisitions ever. The company purchased Albinson Reprographics in Minneapolis, Ridgway’s in Fort Worth, AppliCad in Dallas and Commercial Reprographics in Phoenix. Soon Ace Reprographics in Phoenix was acquired as well.

Over the next few years, the company was able to expand its service offerings by purchasing companies with specialized skills. Presentation Solutions in Austin not only expanded the company’s reach into the Austin market, but also brought to the table years of experience in the trade show industry, as well as a variety of hardware options for building the displays and kiosks themselves. ProColor in Minneapolis added professional film processing to Thomas’ ever-growing list of services, and Cline Graphics in Houston introduced the company to the exciting world of fleet graphics. Advanced CAD in Scottsdale and Tucson Blueprint in Tucson were also acquired shortly thereafter. Go Repro in Phoenix, Vanco Reprographics in Houston, Blaylock Reprographics in Dallas and Phoenix, and Precision Reprographics in South Florida are the company’s most recent acquisitions.

Since the turn of the millennium, the role of the internet in the reprographics industry has become increasingly vital. While paper plans will continue to be used on the job site for years to come, the link to the digital world has been firmly established and will only get stronger as technology progresses. The new concept of online planrooms has made it possible for architects and engineers to search, view, order, and distribute plans from any internet-connected computer in the world. Thomas Reprographics is pleased to have been at the forefront of this developing technology, providing customers their own online planrooms through PlanWell Enterprise and ReproMAX DFS.

At Thomas Reprographics, we take pride in being a family business in these times of consolidation and rapid change in our industry. We hope to maintain the level of service BJ Thomas offered when he opened the first small store in Dallas and will remain focused on our most valued asset: your document needs! We look forward to working with you in the future. Thanks for the past fifty years!