New owner hitting stride at Cedar River Signs

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

It’s already a well-established Charles City business, but Zach Wesselmann is quickly making Cedar River Signs Inc. his own.

Wesselmann, who officially took over Cedar River Signs on June 18, said he has “no complaints” about the business climate in Charles City.

“Everyone’s been very welcoming, and everything’s been perfect so far,” he said.

Located at  1207 South Grand Ave. in Charles City, the business advertises commercial signage, vehicle graphics, logo design and more. The company opened for business in January of 2007, and was previously owned by Cory Mutch.

“Cory was obviously very well-known and a really good guy, so we already have some good relationships with people here,” Wesselmann said. “I’ve met tons of different business owners already, and we seem to be getting along well.”

Originally from West Des Moines, Wesselmann attended college at Florida State for a few years, then came back to Iowa and went to college at William Penn University, where he played and coached golf. He ran a sign business in Des Moines, then worked for a dealership for several years after that.

“I just want to do something that I enjoy, and it’s a little more relaxing compared to the corporate stuff I was doing,” he said.

Wesselmann worked at Morton Buildings in Charles City as a sales contractor before this opportunity became available. His wife, Allison — co-owner of the business — is from Nashua. The two have three children, who are 7 years old, 2½ years old and 4 months old.

“We moved up to Nashua because Allison’s mom does day care and watches the kids for us, and we’re closer to family,” Wesselmann said. “Since moving back up here, I’ve been looking for a business to purchase, and just kind of heard through the grapevine that he (Mutch) was possibly thinking of getting out, so I reached out to him and we worked out a deal.”

Wesselmann will keep the same name, phone number and location for now, and hopes to expand the business in the future.

“It’s been busy, just trying to get organized, but I think we’re off on the right foot here,” said Wesselmann, who currently employs two other workers, but said he plans to add to that.

“We’re going in the right direction, and I’m looking to expand the business a lot,” he said. “To be honest, I was thinking the other day that I hope this place is going to be big enough, because I feel like we’re going to be outgrowing this in the next couple of years.”

Wesselmann said he feels there’s plenty of opportunity for growth in Charles City.

“There are a lot of new products that we’re going to be having here soon,” he said. “In fact, we just put in an order for all-new screen printing mechanical equipment, so we’re going to be putting a big emphasis on that.”

Other new products could include different paint protection films, koozies and even apparel, such as shirts, hats and sweatshirts.

“We’ll still do banners and wraps, and we’re going to put a big emphasis on LED signing as well, that’s a big, growing thing.”

Wesselmann said he’s willing to do business with anyone who walks through the door.

“Anything from a kid wanting to put a small decal on the back window of his car to large corporate accounts, where we put up $100,000 LED signs,” said Wesselmann. “Anything in between, it just depends — banners, wraps, signs for race cars, boats — all the fun toys.”

Cedar River Signs is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends by appointment. Customers can also visit the website anytime at cedarriversigns.com.