By Sonia Yooshing
Left to right: Cory Byrnes, Rob Merkel, and Rollin Penner of Letterall Signs Inc.
Letterall Signs Inc. was founded in 1979 in Winnipeg. The original owner had a rust-proofing business named Perma-Guard. His fleet clients would often ask where they could get unit numbers for their vehicles. This led to the birth of an idea—what if he purchased a Letteron machine to get into that end of the business instead? At the time, it was the latest and greatest technology. All one had to do was insert a character, give the machine a crank and, voilà, the die-cut vinyl letter was produced complete with a polyester application tape. And, thus, Letterall was born.
The company’s current president and CEO, Cory Byrnes, worked for the original owner for a few years, back in 1999. An avid learner, Byrnes was not comfortable sitting behind a desk and performing one task. He strived to learn all aspects of the industry and welcomed working with fabricators and installers to enhance his knowledge of the signmaking business. A few years later, he ventured out on his own and created a large clientele as a subcontractor. He would use the facility and equipment and bring in his own business. It soon got to the point where he had too many projects and was contracting jobs back to Letterall to help his clients. So, when the owner mentioned he wanted to sell the company, Byrnes jumped at the opportunity. The door to his dreams of owning and operating his business had swung open. He purchased the shop in 2016.
Sign Media Canada recently spoke with Byrnes to learn more about Letterall’s signmaking process, recent projects, and the company’s secret to supplying Winnipeg with the finest signs and vehicle graphics.
Sign Media Canada (SMC): What makes your company unique?
Cory Byrnes (CB): We are always looking for new, innovative ideas, and when someone says we cannot do it, I treat it as a challenge and always find a way to create the undoable. Sometimes, my staff hates me for it, but it is what drives me to succeed.
I introduced vehicle wraps to the team before I purchased the company. Today, we are one of the city’s leaders in this segment and have two 3M preferred installers.
