WestSide Story | Community benefits from owner’s unification of businesses

By CHRIS MARSHALL
Photos by JENNIFER GOETZ

In the celebratory moments following a championship performance, the victorious team and the trophy
they hoist both gleam on stage, free of imperfections—at least to the public eye.

But the journey to becoming a polished final product isn’t always as glamorous. Players talk about the sweat poured into grueling practices when nobody was watching. The trophy itself was molded into shape through a process involving extreme pressure and heat.

Kurtis Wells, owner of WestSide Stamp & Awards, and more recently T-Shirts Etc. and Topeka Spirit, can relate. By running businesses that provide complementary services, Wells is armed with a one-two punch capable of knocking out all of Topeka’s personalized merchandise and award needs. However, getting to this point required Wells to pour in plenty of sweat of his own.

FORGED BY FIRE

Two years after Wells reached an agreement to buy WestSide Stamp & Awards, the building caught fire. The inside of 2030 SW Fairlawn Road needed to be gutted and the entire roof replaced. For more than six months, operations were moved to another temporary location while the building was repaired in 2013.

The setback was an eye-opener for an entrepreneur who was still adjusting to a new industry. For the previous 12 years, Wells was manager at Sports Center Family Fun Center before being drawn in by the opportunity to work with his hands and build something of his own at WestSide.

The previous owners had a five- year plan to work alongside Wells and transition the ownership over before retiring. It was an ideal arrangement for all parties, but nobody anticipated a fire that would cause structural damage, plus damage to the store’s contents.

People in the community volunteered office supplies, desks and other needs, and the Topeka Chamber of Commerce provided assistance to help the business get back on its feet.

“In those times, you don’t have anything,” Wells said. “The business didn’t stop just because we had a fire. I believe we came out of it stronger. The community was fantastic. They gave a guy like me—who was about to take over—encouragement, and it showed the city wasn’t going to let us go.”

Wells learned that in the eyes of Topekans, WestSide was synonymous with stamp and awards. That association isn’t a bad thing, but in the nearly 10 years since the blaze, he’s made it his mission to show that the business can do so much more.

“A lot of people think it’s a mom- and-pop trophy shop,” Wells said. “We’re a full-fledged engraving shop that works with all types of material: metal, glass, acrylic, wood, marble. You name it, we can engrave it in some fashion. Corporate awards, promotional items, trophies for sports. It never ends. If there’s something you want personalized, we can probably do it.”

To meet all those needs, WestSide has grown steadily since Wells took ownership.

“When I started, we had five full- time employees and one part-time,” Wells said. “Within three years, we doubled that number. We’ve enjoyed significant growth. The previous owners did a good job of giving me something to maintain and grow off of.”

After mastering the trophy, award and promotional merchandise market, Wells set his sights on adding even more services. Once again, a situation beyond his control added to the degree of difficulty.

ROLLING UP HIS SLEEVES

When Wells first took ownership of WestSide, he wanted to add screen printing and embroidery to the company’s personalization options. He said he couldn’t find a way to make it work and shelved the idea for about five years. In March 2021, he discovered his answer was just a short drive down Fairlawn Road.

The timing was perfect for Joe Glotzbach, who was looking to sell T-Shirts Etc. after 20 years of ownership. Wells sat down with Glotzbach and developed a transition plan that worked for both parties and acquired a store that allowed him to further pursue his passion.

Like the fire that complicated his first years at WestSide, the Covid-19 pandemic could have derailed his new venture before it even got started. Again, Wells turned what could have been a deterrent into a motivating factor.

“People were saying, ‘What better thing to do during a global pandemic than buy a company?’” Wells recalls. “My belief is, you can get up and do something or wait for the world to tell you what will happen. As a small business owner, I wasn’t going to wait. We needed to be strategic to survive. I had employees with families who needed to get back to work and service the needs of the community.”

Considering the number of times Wells drives back and forth, the two-mile commute to 923 SW Fairlawn is a nice convenience. But that’s not the only perk of owning businesses that dovetail each other.

“Every local company, every local baseball and soccer team, every reunion, every school that’s looking to show school spirit, all these people in the community have a need for T-shirts,” he said. “People will always need these things.

The two stores had very similar customer bases, but some weren’t buying their apparel from T-Shirts Etc. and some weren’t getting their engraved tumblers or stamps at WestSide, so it’s been a good opportunity for cross-promoting and merchandising.”

FAMILY FEEL

Now a manager of 16 people, Wells says he’s gotten a lot of support, as well as help around the offices, from his wife of 10 years, April, who has taken on added responsibilities in the businesses since the Wells’ children are of the age to spend full days at school. Together, the husband-and-wife duo have brought a family feel to the workplace.

“They’re my work family,” Kurtis said of his staff. “We joke because I spend a lot of time with these people. We enjoy each other’s company and we work hard tackling all kinds of projects. And it’s a good problem to have, but we’re outgrowing both locations. Our major goal is to get under one roof as company, so we can provide everything in one place.”

While combining businesses into one building would be an exciting milestone, Wells remains thankful for the everyday wins along the way.

“It might sound corny, but I like all the steps,” he said. “I like meeting with customers and seeing what they’re trying to do. I like engraving and having my hands in it the whole time. And I like the end product and seeing the look on customers’ faces when we hit it out of park.”

Wells continues to look for opportunities to grow and recently acquired a second screen print shop, Topeka Spirit, in October 2022. Given the success, it could be easy to overlook the early challenges, but Wells hasn’t forgotten the community was there for him when he first moved to WestSide. He hopes to continue repaying that favor by anticipating and meeting the needs of anyone who walks through his door.

“We like being a company that’s able to provide things for our community,” he said. “It’s exciting to have relationships with other businesses because you get to be a part of their growth and see that as they get more nameplates for desks or more name tags. We’re a part of that in our own way. It’s pretty cool to see our community grow, and we’re very blessed and happy to be a part of it.”