The Greater Bothell Chamber of Commerce announced Gary Anderson of Northwest Trophy & Award, Inc. as its Member of the Month during its June general meeting.

Anderson is one of four owners of this third generation, locally owned business. Their family business roots began in the late 1950’s with one location in Seattle and expanded to the Eastside in early 2000. They now have three locations: Seattle, Bellevue and Woodinville and serve customers across the nation. Known as the largest retailer of Recognition Awards in the Northwest, each location has a great showroom to browse and find inspiration and ideas.

The third generation of Northwest Trophy & Awards (Gary, Robb, Rich and Mike) is committed to “giving our customers the highest quality products and service available. As a family business, we will continue to strive to exceed our customers’ expectations like our fathers and grandfather before us did.”

They continually look to improve customer expectations. They employ nine people and recently they made some ‘internal’ technology upgrades installing a network to connect the three locations, improve communication and operational processes. Once the network is up and running, they plan to further improve the customer experience, by rolling out a POS (point of sale) system for each location.

Gary graduated from Bothell High School with an interest in architecture, commercial design and a love of cars. He went on to Seattle Central College and worked in the family business part-time eventually moving to full time. Gary has been a Bothell Chamber member for two years and really enjoys the relationships he has built with fellow members. He was surprised to receive the award and thankful for the peer recognition. Not an extrovert by nature, he is constantly amazed at how stepping into an ownership role and running a business has helped him to build character. He did admit it was also a bit ironic to receive an award that he actually designed. It is proudly displayed on the front counter in the Woodinville location. Giving back is key for Gary, and as a former Bothell High School student, he decided to also join the Northshore Rotary to give back to the community that he grew up in.

Looking through their website you will find a treasure trove of sports, promotional, gift and award ideas and inspiration. “We are more than trophies.” Gary says. One of the newest trends is using full color. They use a special UV printer allows you to print crisp text and vibrant, full-color images using UV inks on wood, stainless steel, ceramic tiles, plastics, glass, aluminum and more. Gary is amazed by the detail and clarity of the color with the new technology. Beyond trophies, think about special, custom engraved gifts. They love to work on custom, creative ideas. For example, they are skilled at sandblasting glass – how about a special wine bottle or a set of custom flutes for a bride and groom or to celebrate a special anniversary?

They are able to do many things same day and will work closely with customers to meet deadlines for special or custom orders. They pride themselves on maintaining a creative edge, producing high quality products and delivering on time.

Gary and his father, Skip (in town from Arizona) were gracious and it is clear this third generation, family-owned business is built upon the saying, “People like to work with people they know and trust.”

Drop by any of the showrooms in Seattle, Bellevue or Woodinville for inspiration or look online to learn more about all of the quality products, gifts and services they provide at www.nwtrophy.com.