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Posts Tagged ‘Omaha’

Thanksgiving Parade Floats

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on November 23, 2017| 5 Comments »

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Photo: Jason Margolis
Signs & Shapes co-owner Scott Bowen with seamstress Tami Dahir. The Mom & Pop shop in Omaha, Nebraska, makes costumes and parade floats for customers around the world — and their only advertising is word of mouth.

Where do those gigantic Thanksgiving Day parade floats come from? Quite a few probably come from Omaha, Nebraska, according to Public Radio International program The World.

Jason Margolis reports, “Signs & Shapes’ space in Omaha is just about the coolest factory you’ve ever seen — a huge warehouse filled with dogs, ducks and astronaut costumes being stitched, then inflated and tested.

“ ‘The company was started in my dad’s basement, my folks’ basement, just about 30 years ago, and we started as distributors for inflatable signs,’ said Scott Bowen, the company’s co-owner.

“The company eventually expanded into props for plays, parade floats and inflatable costumes. Today, Signs & Shapes exports to 74 countries. …

“Lee Bowen, Scott’s father, who helps run international sales, explained how they find their foreign customers: ‘Word of mouth. … We don’t do any advertising.’

“Signs & Shapes relies on reputation and having a niche. If you want a high-end inflatable that won’t pop when your mascot is bouncing on its head in front of 20,000 people, call Omaha. …

“Scott Bowen has been at the export game for a while now and says the export process has become ‘quite easy’ for his company. Business is going well, but still, Signs & Shapes only has 25 employees. And Bowen said they’re limited in how much they can grow.

“ ‘We need seamstresses with a really high level of sewing intelligence that can look at a pattern of a couple of hundreds of pieces that’s never been made before, and put the whole thing together accurately,’ says Bowen. ‘But [they also must] have a business or commercial mentality in terms of speed.’ …

“While letting the product speak for itself has become the company’s best marketing strategy, they can’t take credit for some of the coolest stuff they make due to non-disclosure agreements. It can be a highly secretive industry.

“In a back room, airbrush artist Shane Perrin put the finishing touches on a mascot as Scott Bowen looked on.

“ ‘He’s had stuff on Broadway stages, the biggest amusement parks, huge international sporting events,’ said Bowen, who can’t name many of the actual places or events where Perrin’s work has been on display. …

“If you’re watching a Thanksgiving Day parade Thursday and see a float that you really, really like, chances are a group of folks in Nebraska may have had a hand putting that together. Or not.”

More at PRI, here.

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Feeding the Emperor’s Panda

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Rainy days at the shore and holidays are for many families today the only time they play board games.

But for folks in Omaha, Nebraska, an unusual coffee shop provides frequent opportunities to play games — including some that, guaranteed, you never heard of.

Robyn Murray reported the story at the radio show Only a Game.

“Remember playing Monopoly and Scrabble around the dinner table? Arguing with your siblings about who gets to be the car or the Scottish Terrier? Or whether Z-A-Q could ever be a real word? Well those days are coming back — with just one variation: The arguments are getting weird. Did you feed your monster properly? Can you trust her to save the world with you? And what’s the best way to ensure your family doesn’t have to go begging — selling bread or planting beans?

“Welcome to the revamped world of board games.

“At Spielbound in Omaha, Neb. — a newly opened coffee shop and board game library with what’s believed to be the largest collection of board games in the country — the Short family recently played Takenoko, a Japanese board game.

“ ‘We are trying to please the emperor by taking care of his panda and growing a most excellent garden that feeds his panda,’ Justin Short explained.

“There’s a comfortable feeling about Spielbound. The tables are wooden and the booths leather. There are no television screens, just a cozy bar that serves beer and coffees with names like ‘Taste of Sweet Victory’ and ‘Dice Delight.’ Downstairs, four foot shelves are stocked with board games. Each box is a little work of art, with titles like ‘Arkham Horror’ and ‘The Road to Canterbury,’ with pictures of ships, dragons and submarines.

“The Shorts come here a lot on their monthly family pass. Short has a collection of 200 board games at home. But that’s nothing compared to the 1,200 available at Spielbound, at least according to the Shorts’ children:

“ ‘It’s just fun to play as a family whenever we get down here,’ Isabelle said.

“ ‘I like pretending to be something else and do something else,’ Sabrina said.

“ ‘I like beating people,’ Cameron said, laughing.”

More here.

Photo: Robyn Murray/Only A Game 
Spielbound, a coffee shop and board game library in Omaha, Neb., holds what’s believed to be the largest collection of board games in the U.S. with over 1,200 games available for patrons.

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