Company History

Our History

It was 1938 – the middle of the Great Depression – when Harry Samuels advanced some money to a New York City printer. Like many business owners of the day, the printer could not pay the debt in cash, so he handed Harry the keys to the building and walked away. Harry enlisted the help of his cousins to try and grow the business. In 1963, Harry passed the business to his son, Jay.

In the mid-seventies, Jay’s sons, Donald and Gary, joined the company. They purchased a new printing press and moved to New Jersey in 1979. The move proved to be a disaster. The printing press didn’t work and they lost two key customers. On the brink of bankruptcy, things actually got worse. Jay Samuels died in a car accident in April 1980 and this failing business was left to his wife, Meryle, and three sons – Don age 27, Gary, 26, and Lester, 20.

At that time the company had approximately 28 employees, and grossed only one million dollars in sales. In fact, one of the chief goals of the partners at that time was to just be in business the next day!

By merging the family unity with the individuality of their unique personalities and diverse skills, Donald, Gary and Lester have been able to drive the business down the road to success. Under their strong leadership, Pictorial Offset is now one of the top commercial web and sheet fed printers in the United States. Today Pictorial Offset is a $80 million dollar corporation. The Company motto is, "Never Say No." Instead of seeing a job as having a start and an end, the Samuels see it as an opportunity to develop a long-term relationship with a client – to not just meet the client’s expectations, but to exceed them.

Pictorial Offset operates out of a 197,000 square foot facility, employs over 275 people, and offers innovative products and full in-house production services to an impressive client base. The brothers annually invest millions of dollars in new technology to continue providing the best service possible to their clients. And it’s paid off – in increased productivity, reduced costs, on-time deliveries, and more importantly, in happy, long-term clients. Yet even with their tremendous growth, Donald, Gary and Lester continue close relationships with their clients – providing superior customer service, proactive suggestions and solutions.

Pictorial Offset Corporation is consistently rated by the industry as being among the top commercial printers in the United States. We are also Preferred Suppliers to nearly all of our major clients who have undergone sourcing initiatives.

Future Outlook

Pictorial Offset has grown to $80 million in the last 20 years. We continue and expect to grow at a 15 to 20% rate annually for the next several years. In support of that growth, we have increased our warehouse space to an additional 55,000 square feet. In order to provide our customers with the best product possible, we strive to acquire the latest in finishing and printing equipment. With our 7-color Heildelberg Sunday 2000 gapless web press we can continue to help accommodate the growing market in that area.

Pictorial Offset is always in the process of looking for, or trying to acquire, new companies. Pictorial purchased the commercial printing division of The Queens Group in March of 1998. As a growing, dynamic organization with a financially strong outlook, we expect to continue this process where feasible.