Business View Magazine - March 2016

60 Business View Magazine - April 2016 Business View Magazine - April 2016 61 YESCO A legacy of light Travelers and tourists who have ever visited Las Ve- gas, Nevada, no doubt have been dazzled by the city’s bright lights and flashy architecture. The Vegas Strip, with its many casinos and resort hotels, features an intense and original presentation of electrified color, with many one-of-a-kind signs and displays to attract and entice the crowds of sightseers and vacationers who flood “Glitter Gulch.” Most of Las Vegas’ most iconic displays were designed, manufactured, and in- stalled by YESCO, a 96 year-old, family-owned compa- ny. The list of hotels and casinos that feature YESCO signage in Las Vegas includes: the Boulder Club, Gold- en Nugget, Eldorado, Mint, Silver Slipper, Stardust, Venetian, the Wynn Las Vegas, Harrah’s, the Sahara, Caesar’s Palace, and the Rio– not to mention Vegas Vic, a 75-foot, six-ton, neon cowboy that was erected on the exterior of the Pioneer Club in 1951, and has since become the city’s welcoming trademark. Josh Young is YESCO’s Vice President for Franchis- ing. His great grandfather, Thomas Young, started the company in 1920. “The ownership transferred from my great grandfather to my grandfather. Current man- agement and leadership of the company is in its third generation with my father and two uncles,” Young re- lates. “I’m one of several fourth- generation that are currently working. They’ll be several others who will likely join us down the road.” Young tells the story of how his great grandfather, Thomas, began a small advertising and commercial sign painting business in Ogden, Utah, which, today, has grown to become one of the nation’s recognized leaders in the fields of sign design, sign fabrication, sign installation, and ongoing sign service and main- tenance. “My great grandfather was an artist,” Young says. “He was an immigrant from England who came over to the United States with very little money. He borrowed $300 from his father, who worked in the coalmines in England, to get the business off the ground. In those early years, it was mainly hand-paint- ed signs, graphic lettering, golf-leaf window lettering, and coffin plates. “One of the opportunities that presented itself early on in the history of the company was for my great grandfather to acquire the license to produce neon. That license really propelled him into the electric sign business and, more importantly, into the Las Vegas market that was in its infancy. So, he took that license and technology and began producing the large, iconic signs in Las Vegas. And as history progressed, it was additional opportunities like that that presented them- selves – much of which was driven by the rapid growth and aggressive nature of the Las Vegas market and the desire of the casino owners to do more to attract customers into their businesses. That drove our tech- nological advances and need to improve, and to come up with different strategies and creative ways to con- AT A GLANCE WHO: YESCO WHAT: Designer, manufacturer, installer, and maintainer of custom signs and display systems WHERE: Headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah WEBSITE : www.yesco.com