OXFORD – Drive through downtown Oxford along Route 12 and you're likely to notice a new business along the way, bringing new life to a retail space that's been vacant for a number of years. Local entrepreneur Mitch Cluff is trying his fate at a brick and mortar expansion of his home-based graphic and advertising business, ES Graphix, and so far things are looking up.

“Working from out of my home just wasn't cutting it anymore. The company has grown to such that I needed to hire additional sales people and establish an expanded workspace to better sever our clients,” said Cluff.

According to Cluff, the move to the main drag has paid off. “Just having a location with this amount of visibility has brought about the added incentive of foot traffic and walk-in appointments,” said Cluff as he noted that there have been at least four new accounts in the past week.

“We offer pretty much any service that relates to marketing and advertising,” said Cluff. Banners and automotive graphic wraps are only the tip of the iceberg for ES Graphix – which adorn the facade of the new location – and the variety of services offered is extensive.

The formula to success for ES Graphix under the vision of Cluff has been his ability to identify his capabilities and keeping the business fluid. Cluff has – through nearly 15 years of graphics-related experience and education – figured out what works, what does not and how to stay aggressive in the business world by staying agile and reducing overhead.

“I do a lot ‘out-of-house’ printing, and that saves me both time and overhead,” said Cluff. “I considered investing in large scale printing equipment and machinery, but it would have required an impractical amount of space to house it, not to mention the cost of maintenance and down time if something goes awry. The relationships that I have in the industry allow me to be more cost-effective for my customers by outsourcing the physical printing and doing the design work myself here in-house.”