May 11, 2020

Signs, counters and feature walls for casinos and fitness centers have helped drive business for Sioux Falls-based Creative Surfaces in the past.

But as businesses prepare to reopen nationwide following COVID-19 closures, new opportunities have emerged.

“In times like this, you kind of have to reinvent yourself,” said Jud Pins, a third-generation owner of the business.

The business had made some so-called “sneeze guards” in the past – which now are being used as social distancing dividers between cashiers and customers.

So Pins did a simple marketing piece, put one on his desk, took a photo and started selling.

“In two weeks, I bet we sold 600 of these,” he said.

Luxury retailer Tory Burch put in a custom order for 100.

“We’re going to ship basically a week after we settled on a design,” Pins said.

Nail salons and tanning businesses have been buying them too. Most are a standard design, and some include a transaction hole at the bottom.

“We came up with some universal designs so we could stock them,” Pins said. “This is an item if people want it, they want it right now. In a week, I think we made 400 of them.”

A standard one sells for $110.

Creative Surfaces also has designed a piece that’s a screen built into a surround where retailers can communicate information.

“When you walk up, it’s an informational screen that’s wireless, and the store can control the content, but it gives you a squirt of sanitizer under it,” Pins said.

For casino customers, the company is working on prototypes for slot machine and blackjack table dividers.

“So there’s a shield between the player and the dealer and a shield between each player,” Pins said.

“In Vegas, we’ve always done a lot of signage for dealer-less games, and we’re getting a lot of interest in those. They don’t know how to handle chips, and money is the big thing right now in casinos. I think Vegas wants to assure people they have things in place. They need 30 to 40 percent of normal occupancy to make it worthwhile to open.”

The same divider concept also can be used in other industries, he said.

“You can use the same piece in a restaurant, so you can have a divider between tables. You can create 6-foot distancing, so you wouldn’t have to shut down all your tables and (instead) create a physical barrier that still passes light through but you can move it around,” he said.

“And we do a lot in fitness, so we’re doing a treadmill divider that’s portable, and you can slide it around.”

The company’s design team has been working extra hours to accommodate the quickly changing needs of customers, he said.

“Our engineers are crazy right now,” Pins said. “We made 100 Purell stands for a guy. He called me on a Friday, and I took it to our engineers,” and 50 were done a week later, he said.

Record project, new storefronts cap big year for third-generation family business