In the quaint, Metro East community of Breese, locals jokingly refer to their streets as their own version of “Mayberry.” Breese may be tranquil and friendly like the fictional and nostalgic town made famous in The Andy Griffith Show, but Mayberry never had a unifying retail force like AVH Print & Stitch which has united this community by helping to promote and brand the best of Breese.

“AVH is primarily an apparel decoration business. We do screen printing, embroidery,” said AVH owner Angie Mudd. “We also do a lot of signage, banners, yard signs, things like that. Design is in our DNA. That’s how this all started 21 years ago.

“We’ve put the logo on their door. We made the sign that’s hanging on the building. We printed the shirts that the person is wearing when I go to the counter,” Angie said with pride in her voice. “We go for fast food or to any of the local businesses in town, and they’re all wearing things that we made. That makes me feel amazing.”

From side hustle to storefront

As we walked the store with Angie, a hum of printing presses was audible as was a faint aroma of ink on a busy weekday morning.

“I got started in 2005 from my home as a side hustle to my full-time career, and looking for a way to make a little extra cash,” recalled Angie.

Angie was working as a commercial printing pre-press manager and graphic designer for one of the largest commercial printers in Southern Illinois.

“I was in that graphic design sort of field from the time I was 17,” added Angie.

“The side business turned into a bigger thing than I planned. I did both jobs, which became two full-time jobs, which was very tough to do and raise a family,” continued Angie. “So, I quit my full-time job, and I decided to take a chance on myself and see if I could grow something big enough to stand on my own two feet while creating a legacy my family would be proud of.”

Rather than following a rigid roadmap, Angie navigated by instinct, pivoting as new opportunities arose. She said her customers helped her to create the business one request at a time.

“The customers were coming to me and asking for more than what I was already doing. That was a sort of key factor for me to grow,” explained Angie. “A customer would come in for a banner and then, almost as an aside, ask, ‘Do you do shirts?’”

Angie said she quickly realized there were abundant opportunities.

“If you keep asking me to do something I don’t do, there is the incentive to grow,” said Angie. “There’s the incentive to learn how to do shirts.”

Angie’s small operation at home simply could not handle the demand. She said she quickly realized she needed to expand in order to develop a successful business.

“I looked for a space, hired a person and bought some used equipment and learned how to screen print,” said Angie. “Once we did that, it took off from there. We opened a brick-and-mortar business in 2014, and I hired one person. So, it was myself and a guy who printed for me. From there, it just blew up.”

What is striking about the growth of AVH: no advertising campaigns, no marketing budgets, no splashy launches.

”We rarely advertised other than social media,” stated Angie. “We grew our business based on referrals and taking care of our customers.

”We did a good job. We took care of customers, and our designs were great,” stated Angie with a smile of palpable pride. “So, they came back, and then they told their friends.”

As the referrals multiplied, so did employees and equipment. But Angie stressed that she was deliberate about the pace of her growth.

“We did it slow and steady. There was no ‘let’s invest $100,000 in equipment’ that we don’t know how to use, and we don’t have customers for and then struggle. I think slow is the way to go.”

The Hive On 5th & Main

Angie owns the entire property at AVH Print & Stitch which is officially known as The Hive On 5th & Main. The building is coincidentally filled with four other female-owned businesses, and so Angie will playfully say “The Hive is full of Queen Bees, since it is home to 5 businesses owned by women.” Angie views her location as an asset.

“One of the big benefits about our location here in Breese is that we are only 40 miles from St. Louis, which puts us in a great Metro East location for growth,” explained Angie. “We’re surrounded by small towns.”

Geography has helped shape the customer mix for AVH. Schools and businesses form the backbone of her clientele. AVH also serves hospitals, nursing homes, daycares, and high-turnover businesses that need a reliable, fast-moving partner.

“Our customer base is mostly Clinton County,” Angie added, “but we have spread out to other states easily through shipping and online options.”

With schools in mind, AVH developed a solution that removes impediments to purchases.

“We do a lot of online stores, and this is great for schools because they don’t want to collect paper order forms and checks and change,” noted Angie. “They don’t have to come in and put an order together.”

AVH can create a custom online store, handle the orders, and give customers the choice to ship or pick up their orders at AVH.

“That’s the best part about having a retail space,” Angie continued. “Customers can come in, see how it feels, see how it looks on them before they order something online. That’s not something you can do when you’re working with a business that’s solely online and digital.”

That sense of presence in the community has a cost most people never see. When asked about it, Angie’s voice shifted.

“We did work really hard for this,” Angie said with emotion surfacing in her words.

“I gave up a lot,” shared Angie, her eyes welling up with tears. “Missing things for my kids, my family, so that I could continue to grow this business, to provide for my employees’ families, to make sure I could make payroll, to pay the bills, and also carry that reputation that I worked so hard to build.

“It’s not tears of sadness. It is tears of pride. It’s my pride that just beams out of me,” added Angie. “I know I didn’t do it by myself. It’s this team that did it. It’s the people. They don’t only work here; they’re like owners here. I run my business like people walk in and they don’t know who the owner is. I think that’s a big part of our success.”

That team today includes six full-time employees, two part-time employees, plus Angie, whose sister, Michelle, serves as the shop’s full-time embroiderer, a role that reflects a larger truth about AVH.

“My sister works here. My nieces and nephews have worked here. My children have worked here,” Angie said with a warm smile. “Friends and family are key to the growth of our business.”

Angie believes good design is the competitive edge that separates AVH from shops that simply know how to run equipment.

“We have graphic designers on staff. We started as graphic designers. I was a graphic designer my entire life,” said Angie. “I loved art class when I was a kid. So, it was just natural for us to grow into that. A lot of people in the industry start out with people who know how to run the equipment and not necessarily have the background to design. For us, it’s design all the way, and I think it shows.”

A campaign that became a movement

Of all the accomplishments for AVH Print & Stitch, one chapter stands out for Angie. When COVID shuttered businesses across Clinton County in 2020, Angie felt the fear while experiencing the first panic attack of her life when arriving to work one day during those early days of uncertainty. But instead of crumbling amid the chaos, Angie said she looked for a way to do something.

“We looked for a way to help–to help the community and help ourselves stay in business,” recalled Angie. “Our presses needed to continue to run. I needed to pay my employees. I needed to take care of my people and my family. But I also wanted to take care of other people.”

Angie came up with a fundraiser called SupportCCTee that printed up custom-designed T-shirts to promote business owners in Clinton County. Angie’s team connected with the community through social media. The response was immediate and overwhelming.

“Next thing we knew, we had 173 local businesses who were willing to participate and even begged to participate,” said Angie with energy in her voice.

Each participating business got its own specialty T-shirt, which sold for $20 with $10 returning to that business and $10 supporting AVH. Angie and her team set up an online store and orders were distributed in tents on a sidewalk because Illinois was under social distancing orders, and AVH was not permitted to have customers in its store. Neighbors, business owners, friends, and family showed up to fold and sort.

“This store was full of shirts,” Angie recalled with a big smile.

Angie set an original goal of $10,000 for the campaign, but the end result was $90,000 donated back to other local businesses, while also generating enough revenue to keep the doors open at AVH without a single employee layoff.

“It’s something I think that I’m most proud of that we’ve done,” added Angie. “We were able to gain customers that didn’t even know we existed by doing that campaign, and we’ve retained those people, because we took care of them. We did something big, and it was awesome. It’s just something I’m really proud of doing.”

Angie is also quick to point out that ever since AVH Print & Stitch has existed, sales have increased every year. She also explains to us that online revenue now accounts for at least half of the business and continues to climb.

“When I started this I never imagined it would become what it is today. Never. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to pay my employees or pay my bills or make rent,” explained Angie. “I negotiated rent at my first location down because I was concerned I wouldn’t have the money to make rent sometimes. If you have the ambition to start a business and grow a business and you’re determined it will be successful, it will be successful. It’s up to you. It’s a lot of hours and a lot of work. It’s a commitment.”

Advice from the shop floor

When Angie offers advice to others who want to start a retail business, it sounds less like a keynote speech and more like something said by someone who has actually lived it.

“Focus on your customers,” Angie said simply. “Take care of them. They will take care of you.”

And when it comes to building your team, Angie advises to look for people with more than talents and ability.

“Hire with your heart. Hire with your mind. If you feel like they will love your business as much as you love your business, they’re your person,” Angie stated with confidence in her voice. “You can teach skill. You can’t teach personality. Hire people who will fit in the culture of your business. Who will represent your business well.”

And in Breese, AVH Print & Stitch is indeed widely represented.

“I like when I can drive down the street and see we’ve helped a local business with their logo and brand. We designed that,” grinned Angie. “I feel super proud of what we’ve done here. I love where I live and what our business has helped create for everyone out there.”