In the early 2000s, the specialty coffee scene in New York City was far from robust. When it came to getting a quality cup of coffee in midtown Manhattan, options for New Yorkers and tourists were few and far between. Gregory Zamfotis saw an opportunity to bring an elevated guest experience to those looking for a little more out of their daily coffee routine in the country’s most dense city. Gregory opened his first coffee shop location in 2006 in the Flatiron District, introducing New Yorkers to a coffee company rooted in quality, service, and efficiency.

Over the past nine years the response has been huge, and the number of ‘Gregular’ customers has been growing rapidly. Last year alone, Gregorys doubled in size from six locations to twelve, all in Manhattan. With this rapid expansion, a growing employee base and the menu rotating more than ever, Gregorys’ Director of Marketing and Visual Merchandising, Kristin Zamfotis was looking for a cost effective chalkboard solution that was easy to change and not as heavy as a traditional chalkboard.

When Kristin was introduced to Visual Magnetics’ flexible, printable and writable chalkboard material, VM-CHALKboard PLUS, the move to switch their signage in every one of their 12 stores made perfect sense. 

 

Soon after meeting with the design consultation team at Visual Magnetics’ New York City office, Gregorys’ revised their signage to incorporate layers. Small magnetic pieces printed with item names are now delivered to stores when prices need to change. Employees install the layers themselves by lifting off the current layer and replacing it with a new one. Single origin coffee selection at Gregorys changes every two to three months, so printing the names for these items on layers makes it easier for Gregorys’ team to change over their selection in every store quickly and cost-effectively.

“Before we switched to Visual Magnetics, changing the single origin coffee names was a hassle...We had to order three chalkboards for every store, print them, deliver them and have them re-installed. They were heavier and more costly. Now, we keep layers with popular single origin blends on hand at each location and print new ones as they come up! They ship in a roll and the store employees can install them easily,” says Kristin.

The team at Gregorys is also happy they didn’t have to sacrifice the hand-drawn chalk look that they loved. Kristin works hand-drawn elements into signage designs wherever possible. Employees can draw straight onto VM-CHALKboard PLUS with a liquid chalk marker freehand or using printed guidelines. Gregorys also uses other Visual Magnetics’ materials to label shelved merchandise liked bagged coffee, t-shirts and mugs, and for framed promotional posters throughout their stores. This way, merchandise labels can change easily and posters can be swapped out whenever new products are being marketed. 

“I am already planning ahead for the next holiday season. I am working on our graphics now so that we can have beautiful branded displays using Visual Magnetics. I’d love to have an additional merchandise signage with layering and shelves, and VM-CHALKboard PLUS posters in each location!”