Originally founded in 1972 as Ralph’s Trophies owned by Ralph and Linda Peel, Alderson’s Awards West Printwares officially celebrated 50 years in business in 2022.
Owner Tom Alderson, who has worked there for 37 years, reflected on the business’ storied history in an interview last week. Beyond trophies, the company now offers a wide range of services from custom embroidering and T-shirt screen printing to banners to custom signs.
It’s truly a family affair for Alderson, as he works with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and a grandchild. Even the employees who aren’t actually related to him feel like family, he said, including Phyllis Strum who started working there shortly after Alderson in 1986.
“I started in January and Phyllis started in March,” he said.
As he approaches 66, Alderson said he has no intentions to retire.
“By a lot of standards I would be near retirement age, I maybe even should’ve already been retired. But our lives are just different, we’re very grandchildren-centric, they all live around here and it’s still enjoyable to work here,” he said.
Strumm said it was not surprising she’d remained in the job all these years.
“Between this and my other job, a school bus driver, this was the perfect job for two part-time jobs,” said Strumm, later adding she’s driven buses in Centralia for 34 years. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.”
Alderson said the business’ history has its ups and downs and while he plans for that, he understands he’s not always in control.
“I’m a big believer in planning, but there’s also a Yiddish proverb I always remember, and it’s ‘mankind plans, and God laughs.’ And we’ve seen that with the pandemic, the recession, we’ve been flooded, we had a fire last year, you’ve gotta go with the ebbs and flows,” Alderson said.
Alderson’s Awards West Ebbs and Flows
After marrying Linda Peel, trophy business owner Ralph Peel inherited the storefront from his wife’s father Harry William, who founded a jewelry store in the old Yard Birds Mall in 1969.
With an initial $300 investment, Ralph Peel opened Ralph’s Trophies on 604 N. Tower Ave. in Centralia in 1972.
Schools and businesses made up most of the initial income and kept the company afloat until Ralph and Linda Peel sold the business to Pat and Sherry Swanson in 1981. They went on to pursue other business ventures including bringing a multiplex theater to Yard Birds and running Mary McCrank’s Restaurant south of Chehalis.
In 1983 the business purchased a computerized laser engraving machine, one of only two in the state at the time. Then, in 1984, the business was renamed to Awards West to better reflect the services offered.
It was shortly after this in 1986 that Tom Alderson and his wife, Karen Alderson, joined in as partners with Pat and Sherry Swanson. The business subsequently moved from its North Tower Avenue location to its current location on 1124 Kresky Ave. in Centralia.
With the new space came a lot more room, as they had moved from a 1,200 square foot building to a 6,400 square foot building with two stories. In 1991, Tom and Karen Alderson started the Printwares division of the business which oversaw screen and heat printing.
In 1994, the Aldersons took full control as Pat and Sherry Swanson left the business.
A remodel occurred in 1996 and was followed by a renaming in 1997 to Awards West-Printwares Inc., or API. The name didn’t stick, though, and the business was either called Alderson’s or Awards West-Printwares. Eventually, the two were combined into the current moniker.
In 2005, Alex Alderson graduated with a business degree from the University of Washington and took over management of apparel decorating production.
During the 2007 Chehalis River flood, Alderson’s Awards West Printwares was inundated with two feet of water in the building, which they considered relatively minor devastation compared to the rest of the area. An “I Survived the Flood” T-shirt fundraiser drive netted nearly $3,000 for local flood relief.
Following the natural disaster, the business weathered a financial disaster as the Great Recession of 2008 hit.
By 2019, the company had not only recovered, but received the 2019 Business of the Year Award from the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.
The next ebb didn’t take long to hit, but the business also survived the COVID-19 shutdown and an equipment fire last August, which disrupted printing operations for more than two months.
Throughout the highs and lows of the family-run business — and with whatever the future holds — Tom Alderson said he and his family thank the community for decades of continued support. From the Economic Alliance of Lewis County and the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce to local schools, Providence Centralia Hospital and even within the walls of The Chronicle, Alderson’s work can be found in many Lewis County venues.
Alderson’s Awards West Printwares is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on weekends.
