‘Continuing the legacy’: Maple Leaf Rubber Stamp buys CanMark

The 29-year-old entrepreneurs behind Shrugging Doctor Beverage Co. and Maple Leaf Rubber Stamp have inked a new deal to acquire the latter company’s largest competitor.

Willows Christopher and Zach Isaacs last month purchased CanMark Industries Ltd. (also known as Canadian Marking Systems Inc.) from previous owner Terry Bias. The sale price of the 114-year-old Winnipeg company, which makes rubber stamps, stencils, signs and other office supplies, was not disclosed.

Maple Leaf Rubber Stamp and CanMark both manufacture products in the Sargent Park neighbourhood and sell them across Canada. Since buying the latter business in June 2023, Christopher and Isaacs have become intimately familiar with the sector, which made acquiring CanMark a natural fit, Christopher said.

The rubber stamp industry is a small, tight-knit community, he said, and the two companies have outsourced work to each other over the years. “I guess you could say they’re our biggest competition, but we always felt more co-operative than (competitive).”

Bias and another CanMark employee have retired and the company’s other two employees will keep their jobs. CanMark will remain an independent corporation but has moved from Midland Street into the same building as Maple Leaf Rubber Stamp at 1211 Richard Ave. Maple Leaf has one employee in addition to Christopher and Isaacs.

Now 75, Bias started working at CanMark as the general manager in 1988 and purchased the company in April 2002. He said he is happy about the sale and looking forward to enjoying retirement.

“I could see the boys were really energetic and that it would be a good fit,” he said. “I wish the boys all the very best and I know they will be successful.”

Originally known as the Canadian Stamp Company, the firm started in 1911 producing custom-made rubber stamps, inks, brass stencils and corporate seals.

Over the years, it expanded its product line to include things such as commercial inks, name tags, door plates and desk signs. Around the time of its 100th anniversary, the company added digital print materials, trade show displays and interior and exterior signs.

“It’s a very unique industry and we were one of the major players in the city,” Bias said, describing the company as a mom-and-pop operation. “I developed a lot of close relationships with both customers and suppliers and that was the best part — the people part.”

Maple Leaf Rubber Stamp, meanwhile, was started in 1932 and still uses some processes from that era — including making rubber stamps using the province’s only surviving Ludlow Typograph (a hot metal typesetting system).

Christopher said he’s spent the last 18 months working full-time hours at both Maple Leaf and Shrugging Doctor. While the rubber stamp business is different from the alcoholic beverages industry he got his start in, he’s excited about both.

“Now that I’ve been entrenched in a business that’s been around for so long, it’s given me an appreciation for business in a way that I didn’t have before,” he said, adding it’s rewarding to keep two century-old businesses going.

“It would be a really big shame for a 114-year-old business to go under or close shop because the owner wants to retire and can’t find a buyer. Continuing the legacy is very satisfying for me. It just makes me feel good.”

Both stamp companies are committed to manufacturing in Manitoba, using Canadian materials, Christopher added. He estimates that only around five per cent of the materials the companies use originate outside of the country.

“If people don’t support local, there won’t be any local,” he said.

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