Business Spotlight: And the winner is …

Bill Viles Jr. has spent the better part of his life in the awards industry.

He fondly recalls stamping trophies with the BJ’s Trophy Shop logo as a kid for the business his dad founded in 1977. He’s worked intermittently for the company ever since.

In April, he cemented his lifelong commitment by buying the business from his retired father Bill Viles Sr.  

“It feels like a big responsibility,” the younger Viles says of taking on the company that’s nearing 40 years old. “My dad had a great career.”

The elder Viles says he had interest from other buyers, but the choice was clear. He wanted to keep the shop in the family.

“He knows the business, and he’s been around it since he was big enough to stand on top of a box,” Viles Sr. says. “It was a natural fit.”

Fronting Sunshine Street near the Glenstone Avenue intersection, the company’s trophies, plaques, medallions, ribbons, banners and corporate awards are on full display in a 3,000-square-foot showroom. The 10,000-square-foot BJ’s Trophy Shop is roughly five times the size of its previous location next door after the company relocated in early 2009.  

---

---

Upstairs, where custom engraving and assembly is performed on-site, rows and rows of trophy toppers from basketballs to pigs crowd the aisles. Thousands of parts ready to go to meet customers’ needs.

Walking through the production area, the younger Viles recalls the company’s history, pointing to a laser engraver that works much more quickly than the company’s older diamond drag machines.  

“I give him credit for bringing the company into the computer generation,” Viles Sr. says. “Computers run everything nowadays.”

Declining to disclose revenue, Viles Jr. says BJ’s Trophy Shop sells thousands of awards per month, about 20-25 percent of which is through the company’s extensive online store. While clientele is mostly local, Viles Sr. says orders have come from as far away as the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Germany and Africa.

Viles Jr. remembers some of the more unique requests BJ’s Trophy Shop has received, including a 16-foot tall trophy for a karate tournament. The trophy stood as tall as the company’s old store location. Another time, the company painted a metal folding chair gold as a retirement gift.

The business built around the concept of recognition gives customers lasting memories of accomplishments, whether it’s a trophy for a baseball tournament or a corporate award recognizing years of services. “That’s essentially what we do every day,” Viles Jr. says.
 
A supplier to the company shares in the memories, having been involved in a business relationship with BJ’s Trophy Shop for some 35 years.

Kirk Cothren, Midwest sales representative and warehouse manager for Bartlett, Tennessee-based Continental Awards & Trophies, has worked with the father and son to meet their increasing needs for supplies and machines.

He says the transition to new ownership under Viles Jr. – who he calls Billy – has clearly worked out, particularly given the fact in-person sales are still the order of the day. Cothren says Viles Jr. told him this year would finish among the company’s best.

“‘Www’ now means you’re competing with the world instead of just your local area like you used to do,” he says.

Other brick-and-mortar competitors in town are Bull’s Trophy Shop and Collegiate Awards.

Looking to the future, the younger Viles is working to shift the company’s image beyond just sports. Corporate awards make up half of the company’s business after all, and he wants to make that known.

“We do so much more than baseball stuff,” he says.

Springfield Hot Glass has purchased BJ’s Trophy Shop’s engraved marble component bases to hold its glass awards as often as once a week for seven years.

Gabriel Bloodworth, manager of the downtown glass-blowing shop, says the awards engraved by BJ’s are then sold to Springfield Business Journal, Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, United Way of the Ozarks and BKD LLP. Recently, BJ’s quickly turned around an order for a paper weight Husch Blackwell LLP gave to a client.

“They can have stuff ready if it’s time sensitive,” Bloodworth says. “It’s a little bit of a hassle for them, I’d imagine, but we do that multiple times a month.

“At the end of the year, it’s thousands and thousands of dollars worth of business.”