Trending
Starting from humble beginnings in the library industry, Janway, 11 Academy Road, Cogan Station, has grown to be one of the leading promotional companies in the state, with a national reach, all while being guided by the strong convictions of the Stebbins family.
"Janice and Wayne Stebbins began the business in 1981, hence the name Janway," current owner Gary Stebbins said.
"My dad had actually worked in the library industry before he started Janway, so when he started the business, that was the natural market to get into," he explained.
Janway began selling library items, including a line of large print books, and self-adhesive book cover for paperback books, but after a discussion with Robbie Cross, CEO of Equinox Ltd., Janway made its first foray into promotional items, a line of tote bags embroidered with the names of different libraries.
Upon Gary's graduation in 1987, he went to a library conference, where he saw several promotional items libraries were starting to use to promote themselves, including magnets with library hours on them.
"The business just grew rapidly as we kind of shifted gears," Gary said.
"We still continued to do a few different proprietary type of bags that we're selling into the library market, however, our business has transitioned to, I would say, 90% promotional items and 10% library bags and other supply items," he explained.
In 2010, Gary and his wife, Pam, who had been involved in the business since 1989, took over the business upon Wayne and Janice's retirement.
"At the time I stepped in, I got us involved in an organization that is basically responsible for putting manufacturers together with distributors, which allows us to have access to over a thousand manufacturers of promotional products, so when a customer comes to us with an idea for a product that they want, we can find that product," Gary explained.
Gary said the options for custom designed products are virtually limitless, including all manner of apparel, bottles, tumblers, business card magnets, and even custom printed guitar picks.
Son, Ross came aboard to help promote Janway in the local community in 2023.
"I get asked all the time how long I've worked at Janway. I always say, 'since I was one,'" Ross said.
"I'd always have odd jobs like folding brochures or putting together little pamphlets, or stickering things," he said.
"I grew up here all my life, and being able to be a part of the sales force now is pretty cool. It's fun being able to show what we offer to our local community and kind of give back to them and see our local community grow," Ross said.
"What is great about Williamsport is they care about, and want to support the community," he continued.
"Think about First Friday, every month, there's a huge turnout downtown, and it's awesome to see that the community can come together and be one in that and support everybody," Ross said.
A major factor in the jump in the pursuit of promotion materials is major advances in technology, Pam said.
"Back in the day, when we started it was a lot more expensive to do more than one color. But with the way printing technologies have changed, there's now a lot of interest in full color, and it's come down in price. And, it just gives you the wow factor," she said.
Janway also has its own art and design department, which allows customers to save money by having all services provided in-house.
"We can create art for them for their particular project or their particular need, or even a logo," said Ross.
"We also recommend products, like, if they have a particular event or program they're trying to promote, we can suggest products that will kind of fit that theme and their budget," he said.
"And, we give discounts to our customers when they are planning a fundraiser. We like to support those kind of fundraising efforts in the local community," Gary pointed out.
Janway boasts an impressive list of over a thousand clients ranging from libraries to school districts to restaurants, to banks and many more.
Asked what has kept Janway in the business and expanding all these years, the family said customer service goes a long way.
"Our byline is 'best products, best prices, the service,'" Pam said, "and my philosophy is that nothing is a problem. It's an opportunity."
"It's an opportunity to do the right thing, to fix the problem, to figure out what's going on and help them in that way, and they'll come back and be a customer even though there was a problem," she explained.
"That's why our library customers keep coming back to us, is because we have the best prices, and we have the best products, and we have the best service. And the fact that we've been serving libraries since 1981, that says a lot about how we do business," Gary said.
For a complete listing of all the products and services Janway has to offer, please visit www.shopjanway.com.