Poison Perfect
South Slave Graphics Shop Evolves Over Time.
As companies grow, services and products can expand well beyond their original roots. One such company is Hay River’s Poison Graphics, formerly known as Poison Painting, which has been in business since 1996 when it was founded by Metis entrepreneur turned politician, Wally Schumann. Beginning as an automotive painting and body repair shop with roots in both Fort Smith and Hay River, over time the company discovered that many of their Northern clients needed signage design and manufacture. After identifying this need, it was a natural progression to begin providing these services and moving further into this market niche.
Eventually, the signage graphics and manufacture took over the majority of the Poison Graphics’ offerings. Today, all that remains of the original company is its iconic cobra logo, and Poison Graphics has become the largest manufacturer of custom signage and graphics products in the NWT. Additionally, Poison Graphics has extended its client reach throughout Northern Alberta, Nunavut and the Yukon. Soon, the company will have a new owner when former sales manager, Derek Mundy takes over ownership.
Hire and Train Locally
Based in Hay River’s Old Town, one of Poison’s strengths is a focus on in-house training and career progression for local people. The company employs a team of eight staff. In addition to the manager, Derek Mundy (who first joined Poison part time at the young age of 13 and worked his way to the top), Poison consists of two local in-house graphic designers, Hay River-born production staff, and, in recent years, a Swiss and Brit joined the team after making Hay River their home. Poison also makes a point to recruit work experience students annually from the local high school, many of whom later return as seasonal staff.
The company fully completes projects in-house. Its services range from design through to cutting of substrates, printing and installation. Poison creates custom signage and graphics projects of almost any size and specification. Clients run the gamut from schools, local businesses, federal and territorial government projects, to Northern contractors and non-profit community causes. But it’s the NWT mining sector that accounts for a substantial chunk of Poison’s client base. For the latter, Poison creates everything from hard hat decals to entire safety, way-finding and waste management signage systems. They understand the importance of meeting specific industry requirements and strive to cater to their clients with the greatest flexibility and accommodation.
The Northern mining industry has had a massive impact on Poison’s business, and they work diligently to show their appreciation by providing rapid quotes, design proofs free of charge, offering competitive pricing, striving to surpass deadlines when possible, accommodating client communication over work shift changes, consulting across multiple client departments, assisting at every necessary step to ship orders to sites that follow specific client protocols, and collaborating with other companies in the North and South Slave region to complete orders destined for mine sites.
Lastly, to show appreciation for their local community, Poison donates to local causes and routinely offers reduced rates for charitable or non-profit community events throughout the South Slave.
