Columbia Flag & Sign Company – Almost 40 years!!
So here’s the funny part. Around 1982, I was 14 years old and I always checked the mail at our home. I started noticing my dad, Jim Mcgehee, was receiving more and more flag catalogs from around the country. I finally asked him why he was getting them and I got the stern reply, “I just like flags, ok!”… I thought that was interesting since we never really flew a flag on our house. One year later, he called a family meeting and told us he was leaving his full time job managing a tractor trailer parts house and was starting a flag store! So of course my immature 15 year old mind had to make a smart comment. I said “flag store, who does that, you’ll go broke in a year!!”. Well, almost 40 years later here I sit owning one of the largest flag companies in the country!! I guess my dad got the last laugh!
We started in a very small retail shop. Dad decided to keep his job for a while and found a neighbor to run the store. She made arts and crafts to sell so he gave her a part of the shop to sell her goods and paid her a small salary. It worked out well enough that my dad quit his job within a year and went full time selling flags. We quickly moved to a larger space, then another larger space.
I was in law enforcement for a while, then worked as a private investigator in Atlanta, GA. My dad asked me for years to come work for him but I wasn’t interested at the time. Finally, in 1998, my wife and I decided to move back to Columbia, SC, and I thought I would try it out. Everything went well. I managed the store for years until he retired in 2011 and have been the sole owner since then.
As a company, we have two divisions. For our flag division, we have a fairly large retail space where we sell decorative, collegiate flags, etc. However, most of our business is commercial b2b. We also install and service flagpoles in-house. In our sign division, we have large format printers to print on all sorts of materials. We make and install indoor and outdoor signs including banners, sign faces, trade show displays, vehicle wraps and graphics, etc. We also have cnc routers to cut signs to shape.
We recently have started a side business named Kifton Marine where we use the cnc routers to custom cut eva foam for boat decking. We use software to custom measure each boat, then cut and install the floor decking. That part of the business is taking off!
All that being said, we have been a big part of the flag industry for almost 40 years and have loved every minute of it. We have some very loyal customers we consider part of our flag family and they make doing business easy. Don’t get me wrong, we have our challenges, especially in this economy, but we stay strong and try to output the best customer service possible. That seems to come back to help us. We also rely on our awesome manufacturers and business contacts/friends we have made through being an active part of NIFDA. I really can’t say enough about the lifelong friends I have made through NIFDA. I lean on them quite often!
In parting, I would like to ask a favor. I would like everyone in the flag industry that knows my dad, Jim McGehee, to know he is turning 80 years old this August 5th. He is still in great health and enjoying his retirement. I am throwing him a surprise party on his birthday and if you would like to send him a note I can give him at the party, he would really appreciate that! He asks all the time about different people he knew in the flag industry.
Please send the notes to my attention to our business at 633 Meeting Street, West Columbia, SC, 29169. Or, you’re welcome to email a note to me and I’ll print it out for him.
Sincerely,
David McGehee
President, Columbia Flag & Sign Company