The remaining equipment and furnishings of the former Signcraft Signs & Things business in East Naples will go to the highest bidder during a weeklong auction already underway. The short-notice auction started Wednesday morning, and lots will start closing Tuesday afternoon.
“We are doing it via an online auction on our website,” said Naples resident Norm Gallivan, founder of Gallivan Auctioneers and Appraisers in Indianapolis. “Bidding is open. We have a complete catalog with photos on our website, njgallivan.com.”
Gallivan was hired by the Naples-based Hoffmann Family of Companies, which permanently closed Signcraft Signs & Things in late July after a nearly 45-year run. Hoffmann purchased the local sign company in early 2018.
About 270 auction lots are up for grabs. “It ranges from office furniture, computers, tools, equipment and machinery,” Gallivan said.
The auction will be finalized on Tuesday when the first lot will close at 1 p.m. with additional lots closing every 45 seconds.
“We have very modest starting bids just to get people interested and get the bidding going,” he said. “We have some interest in a lot of the machines, but we have a lot of small stuff available. There’s something there for everybody.”
Items include everything from a flatbed truck, pickup and forklift to bending and cutting machinery, shop equipment, miscellaneous paint, and signs. Office furnishings include filing cabinets, bookcases, desks, chairs and even a refrigerator and fish tank.
Naples resident Michael Boyd founded Signs & Things in 1978 and merged it in 2011 with Signcraft, another local sign company he acquired that was established in 1977. Boyd remained president after selling his local company to Hoffmann more than four years ago, but Boyd announced he was retiring this fall.
When a merger didn’t pan out with Sunmaster of Naples, another local company Hoffmann owns, Hoffmann chose to shutter Signcraft. Planning on a Signcraft-Sunmaster merger, the Hoffmann company sold the Signcraft warehouse and its 1.13-acre industrial park property at 3649 Progress Ave. in East Naples for $2.5 million at the end of 2021 to Naples-based Classiche LLC. The warehouse contents are the items being auctioned off.
When Signcraft closed, the Hoffmanns said they were out of the sign business. However, earlier this month, Hoffmann acquired Ziglin Signs of Washington, Missouri.
Through this Hoffmann acquisition, Ziglin Signs acquired the name of Signcraft Signs & Things in Naples. Ziglin will absorb the company’s clientele, expanding the Ziglin Signs service area of Missouri and Illinois into the Southwest Florida market where Hoffmann has a large presence.
Founded in 1997, Ziglin Signs is a manufacturer and distributor of custom business signage and occupies a 30,000-square-foot facility that houses state-of-the-art equipment, a two-story showroom, digital printers, paint booths and sign manufacturing equipment. Ziglin offers the most advanced roll-to-roll printers and large format flatbed printers on the market and is the preferred sign manufacturer for national brands such as Chipotle, Denny’s, Margaritaville and Walmart, Hoffmann said.
Since Hoffmann’s $150 million investment in Augusta, Missouri, and the surrounding region, Ziglin Signs has been the go-to sign manufacturer and installer for projects by the Hoffmanns. “Ziglin has always provided outstanding service and quality signs for us. They fit into our company models and are a complement to our existing businesses. We’re excited to welcome the team at Ziglin into the family of companies,” Greg Hoffmann, co-CEO of Hoffmann Family of Companies, is quoted in a news release.
The acquisition of Ziglin Signs reflects Hoffmann’s plans to invest in the Augusta region by opening or acquiring a new business there every 90 days for the foreseeable future, according to the company, which recently acquired Hillermann Florist & Nursery, Schulte’s Bakery, NOA Medical Industries and Mid-American Coaches, all in Washington, Missouri.
