Page 4 - BusinessWest May 12, 2025

Cover Story
Go Graphix Founders Mark
20 Years of Persistence, Evolution
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
Jim White calls them ‘transformations.’
Architectural transformations, to be more pre-
cise. These are graphics such as wall coverings,
murals, treatments for ceilings and windows,
door wraps, and more.
They help individual businesses create envi-
ronments that stand out, that help attract and retain employ-
ees, and that probably help improve productivity, said White,
noting that these transformations have become a big part of
the growing portfolio of products and services at East Long-
meadow-based Go Graphix, which he founded with partner
Gary Stone in 2005.
“These days, businesses want to create a more-exciting
environment, something that’s a little more welcoming, more
interesting, more brand-centric,” said White, noting that the
company has created architectural graphics for a wide range
of businesses and institutions, from Baystate Children’s Hos-
pital to Central High School; UMass Amherst Athletics to
the new Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester; White
Lion Brewing to Providence College.
These architectural installations represent just one exam-
ple of how this company, which started humbly, handling
mostly printing and copying services, has achieved a trans-
formation itself, into a multi-faceted branding firm with a
roster of products and services — from signs to vehicle wrap-
ping — best summed up by its own marketing slogans —
‘’branding where you need it,’ and ‘you name it, we’re on it.’
Go Graphix is an intriguing business story, one that
brings together many of the elements of entrepreneurship —
especially a desire to leave the corporate world behind and
start a business from scratch, a decision White and Stone
made together, over time, while working for medical laser
producers Biolitec and then Lumenis.
White was serving the latter as director of Global Market-
ing, and Stone as national sales manager, when they decided
to ditch the travel, time away from their families, and ample
amounts of stress for ... well, less travel, more time with
their families, but often more stress and of a different kind.
As they looked back on 20 years in business — and
expansion from a tiny storefront in East Longmeadow to two
adjacent buildings in the town’s industrial park — they talked
about the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship, how
nothing has really come easy, but also how there are many
rewards from persevering and working through the hard
times.
“Our persistence is definitely what kept us going,” said
Stone. “We had many opportunities to quit or to get back
into our cushy corporate jobs, but we never turned back;
when we made the decision to start our own business and
build it, it was pedal to the metal.
“We just kept moving forward,” he went on. “And when-
ever we came up on any obstacles or challenges, we made
a commitment to each other that we could keep power-
ing through and someday reap the benefits of business
ownership.”
Co-founders
Gary Stone
(left) and
Jim White
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging
“These days,
businesses
want to
create
a more-
exciting
environment,
something
that’s a
little more
welcoming,
more
interesting,
more brand-
centric.”
4 << FEATURE >>
MAY 12, 2025
Business W est