The Happiest Basketcase in Niceville
By Breanne Boland May 6, 2004 Issue

When I walked into Digital Imaging of Destin in Miramar Plaza, I immediately recognized a favorite ‘80s song playing on the radio—It’s a Mistake by Men at Work. It seemed a little appropriate, since the two men who take care of the day-to-day operations were certainly hard at work. But their meticulous attention to detail cancels out the “mistake” part.

The small staff consists of Phil Harrington, who handles production, and Josh Pilkington—referred to in Digital Imaging advertising as an “A-plus certified technician.” They are willing to take on just about any kind of printing job and color copying, large format or small. Inside the shop, there are huge machines that can print documents up to five feet wide. Everything here is printed in ultraviolet inks that can withstand the sun’s beatings. Weatherproof banners are another specialty.

Harrington got to know primary owner Jim Giroux through a copy shop in Tallahassee. Harrington was working for an advertising agency at the time, but jumped ship to head Giroux’s color department. “I saw a picture of Destin on his wall. He’s been coming here for 20 years. I’d come here to go to school, but went back to Tallahassee. I worked for him for the last five years, and we kept saying, ‘One of these days, we’ve got to move to Destin.’

“Josh was our equipment technician, so he knows how to service all the equipment. We paid for all of this equipment outright. A lot of it we bought used—some was considered ‘damaged,’ but Josh fixed them. Giroux sold his place in Tallahassee about a year ago,” Harrington said.

Harrington was also happy to announce that Digital Imaging is now an authorized shipping center for Federal Express.

The official ribbon cutting took place last November, but Harrington said January was when it really got off the ground. “Josh and I built all the tables. We knew how we wanted everything. We had everything mapped out before we started,” he said. “We also had a feel for this market.”

The high quality and quantity of work samples I saw on display indicates that business has been pretty good so far. “It’s been kind of up and down,” Harrington said. “Not everyone knows we’re here yet, but everyone who has come in has been back. We have new people come in all the time, though. The first month, we probably had 15 to 20 names in the computer—now we have over 100.”

While many shops concentrate on one or the other exclusively, Digital Imaging offers both black and white and color copying. “We do everything—plans for architects and developers in black and white, large format renderings. We can do business cards for almost everyone, logo designs if they need it, stationery. We did all the signage for the Walton County Chamber of Commerce’s Community Days festival. We’re also trying to get as many artists as we can to come in and do copies of their work,” Harrington said.

I noticed one painting propped against the conference room wall and expressed amazement that an artist would leave his or her original work lying around. Harrington corrected me, pointing out the work in question was a very convincing copy printed on high quality canvas.

As the name implies, all of Digital Imaging’s work is produced digitally. “Someone asked, ‘Where do you keep your plans?’ and I pointed to the computer,” Harrington said. The large work area is free of the endless stacks and cardboard tubes of copies associated with businesses hopelessly stuck in the 20th century. “Other than my desk, it’s pretty clean in here.”

Harrington says his aim is “to make enough to live near Destin, have a job that we both like. Josh and I just want something to sustain us. We’re not trying to get rich.” As for business goals, Harrington and Pilkington want to keep growing. Digital Imaging’s clients already extend far beyond the Gulf Coast—businesses from Dallas and Atlanta have gotten on board, too.

The shop includes two huge black and white printers for plans and three small format machines for “spec books”—those 8 1/2 by 11 inch business documents that run 100 to 300 pages. These smaller machines can spit out 65 pages a minute.

“We can even print flags on this,” Harrington said, pointing to a color machine that offers much higher quality and resolution than what he used in Tallahassee.

The Digital Imaging staff seems to have a significant edge over the competition—both in experience and vision. But this doesn’t mean Harrington is going to overcharge his clients. “We don’t want price to be an issue. We’re probably right in line with everyone else in the area. But our quality is significantly better,” he said.

“People tell us our competitors have underbid us,” Pilkington said. One client had been sending their work to Orlando before Digital Imaging opened its doors. “We’re bringing new business to the area. We’re bringing printing jobs back to Destin.

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