Local resident comes out of retirement to open new embroidery business with grandson
August 15, 2013 (Jacksonville, Fla.)—Philip Mobley, 59, wants to bring a little more personalization to Northeast Florida. Coming out of retirement, the Jacksonville resident will team up with his oldest grandson, Henry Williams, 20, to open EmbroidMe at 540-125 Commerce Center Circle on Aug. 27. The company is the world’s largest diversified promotional products franchise, helping organizations brand themselves and make an impression by customizing marketing products that feature a name, image, logo or message.
“Since retiring from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida after 34 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping non-profit organizations in the area and working with at-risk boys within the urban core of Jacksonville,” said Mobley. “Some of the men from the Northside Church of Christ and I founded a very successful night basketball program that was designed as a youth enrichment and mentoring program using basketball as a hook to get the boys interested.”
WIN Night Basketball is in its eighth year and works with 50 boys – 95 percent of them have been promoted in schools and have stayed out of the juvenile justice system since starting the program. Mobley also serves as the executive director of a non-profit organization and the Duval Public Schools System. In addition to his volunteer work, Mobley is currently working on his PhD at the University of North Florida.
“I started working with a non-profit at the end of 2008,” said Mobley. “When all the other non-profits were losing funding, I was able to increase funding levels of the Northside Community Involvement by 300 percent. I know that my ability to reach out to the community will help Henry and me build a very successful business with EmbroidMe.”
Mobley and his grandson share a unique relationship: 10 years ago Henry’s father (Mobley’s son) was killed in a car accident. Since then, Mobley has raised Henry as his son.
“Henry and I have a vision of growing this business to other areas within Northeast Florida that are underserved in the embroidery sector,” said Mobley. “We also strongly believe in giving back to the community and are positioning this company as a community outreach business. We will be implementing incentive and give-back programs for our community partners.”
With more than 300 locations in 12 countries, EmbroidMe expects to open 70 new resource centers through the remainder of the 2013, reaching 500 locations worldwide by the end of 2016. The company currently has 17 locations throughout Florida and expects to double that number within five years, targeting markets such as Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Miramar, Hialeah, Port St. Lucie, Hollywood, Miami Gardens, Orlando, Tallahassee, Pembroke Pines, Gainesville, and Clearwater for further expansion.
Founded by franchising veteran Ray Titus, who along with father Roy founded Signarama in 1986 – which has grown into the world’s largest sign franchise with almost 900 locations in 50 – EmbroidMe specializes in embroidery, garment printing, custom apparel, promotional products, screen printing and personalized gifts. The company is the most comprehensive source for promotional apparel, premiums and advertising specialties for businesses, but also focuses on individual customers and their needs, delivering solid solutions to the branding and promotional challenges of businesses, especially small business.
As testament to its success, EmbroidMe was recently ranked 20th by The Advertising Specialty Institute’s (ASI) Counselor magazine in its annual Top 40 Distributors listing, which recognizes the top distributors in the promotional products industry based upon the previous year’s gross revenue.
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