New Business in Community Despite Pandemic
(RICHARDSON, Texas) August 4, 2020- FASTSIGNS® of Richardson, a locally owned and operated sign and graphics company, is now open. Under the direction of franchisees, Darrin and Mary Lawrence. The team also consists of Kaitlyn Lawrence as Intern Graphic Designer, Roman Brown as Graphic Designer and Rachel Van Pamel as Visual Communications Specialist.
Born in North Carolina, Darrin Lawrence grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Irving and Garland before joining the Army in 1987. Darrin also worked as a superintendent in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for 35 years for large general contractors and the last 25 years with the same company. In 2009 he retired after 22 years from the Army Reserves, and in 2020, he founded the Sarge-N-Stripes Podcast, a platform to market for veteran-owned and small business owners.
Darrin was inspired to become a business owner after seeing the movie, "The Founder.” In the movie, Ray Kroc becomes successful later in life at age 52, which ironically was the exact age Darrin was when he saw the movie.
“That night, I knew I wanted to own a franchise,” said Darrin. “So I went onto the McDonald's website, determined to buy one, but quickly realized I did not have near the money it took to purchase one.”
After that, Darrin worked with franchise consultant Chuck McKinney on various opportunities. In March 2019, the FASTSIGNS opportunity presented itself, and Darrin purchased the center in April 2019. With a statewide reputation as a great place to play and a vibrant arts scene that includes the nationally recognized Wildflower! Festival, the highly regarded Cottonwood Arts Festival, and the state-of-the-art Eisemann Center for Performing Arts, Richardson far exceeds its suburban neighbors.
Darrin is a member of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce and also attends the Richardson/ Plano Networking group. He is also involved in a local Veterans in Business Networking group. FASTSIGNS of Richardson is located at 743 Brick Row Dr., Suite 300, Richardson, TX, 75081 and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
“We are thrilled to be joining the Richardson business community, and we look forward to serving local businesses and organizations with all their signage needs” said Darrin Lawrence. “We can make or provide any type of signs and graphics you can imagine from window and floor graphics to vehicle wraps, menu boards, digital signage and digital content to name a few. We offer a wide variety of services such as graphic design, project management, installation, sign shipping and storage, sign surveying and permitting services, content development and more.”