By Kristin Longley
FLINT, MI — Attention shoppers: Those retail displays you see in your local pharmacy or shopping center could soon be conjured up right in the heart of downtown Flint.
Landaal Packaging Systems of Burton, family-owned and operated since 1959, is announcing today its plans to relocate its design and marketing team to a new “innovation center” it will be opening at the Rowe Building in downtown Flint.
Construction is expected to start immediately, and a move-in date has been set for Sept. 1 for the first-floor space on the north side of the building, 540 S. Saginaw St., next to the new MLive Media Group and Flint Journal office.
About 10 employees will be moved to the new space, and the company expects to add two new salaried sales and marketing positions in the first year, executives said.
Their mission is two-fold: enhance the family’s commitment to Flint and create an office space that will foster the kind of innovation and creativity that will carry the family business into the future.
“We could have done it anywhere,” said Stephen Landaal, company president. “As a family, we’ve been here over 50 years. We’re excited about what’s happening downtown and we wanted to show our commitment to the community and do it in a premium space.”
All told, the move is a $2 million investment, including renovations, leasing costs and equipment over a seven-year period, Landaal said. The announcement is expected to be made at 10:30 a.m. today with the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The company move will include new partnerships with the area’s higher education institutions by creating three college internships for students from the University of Michigan-Flint, Michigan State University and Kettering University, said Robert Landaal, vice president of sales & marketing and Stephen Landaal’s nephew.
Chamber of Commerce CEO Tim Herman said the move is great news for the Landaal family and downtown Flint.
“As the economy gets stronger we are seeing more businesses invest and bring their employees and new jobs to downtown,” Herman said. “The Rowe building has played an important role in the revitalization of downtown Flint and now it will be home to Landaal Packaging — one of Flint-Genesee County’s longstanding, successful businesses.”
Landaal Packaging started in 1959, when it was known simply as “Flint Box Makers,” and the company has expanded and diversified over the years. The business wants to bring in young professionals from area colleges to help the company, which also has offices in Bay City, stay on the cutting edge of its industry.
“The jobs of the future are going to be around innovation,” Stephen Landaal said. “We want to show you can have a future in this community with jobs that stay.”
While the automotive sector is still a large part of its customer base, the company also does a lot of business in the agriculture, food and beverage, retail and non-automotive manufacturing sectors, Bob Landaal said.
Along with its more traditional work, its other products include retail displays in shopping centers as well as sustainable, biodegradable packaging. Some of Landaal’s customers include K-Swiss shoes, Shell Gas and Gosling’s Rum.
The employees and interns in the new office — what they’re calling the “innovation center” — will be focused on design, marketing and consumer research to better serve their customers, Landaal said.
Research shows consumers make their purchasing decisions in about seven seconds, he said.
“You have to have the right graphics; You have to have the right product design,” he said. “When our customers are looking for a product for a Walmart, a Target or a Sears, it requires a different thought process than our other products.
“We want to really focus on innovation and design in this new space.”
Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said businesses like Landaal Packaging represent the history and the future of the Flint region, and he welcomes the collaboration the company brings to downtown with its new design center.
“By opening an innovation hub in downtown, they will benefit from the vitality and diversity of the city,” Walling said in a statement. “Students and business people working together to show the world that Flint is open for business while driving creativity is a good thing not only for Flint, but for the entire region.”
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