Coolest Office (Most Creative): A Plus Signs and Creative

by Amber Helsel

Austin May mans the printer in the graphics-production area at A Plus Signs and Creative. Photo courtesy Imani Khayyam

​When you walk into A Plus Signs and Creative, which is in a warehouse off Northview Drive, chances are shop mascot Willie Nelson will rush up to great you. He's a fluffy double doodle-breed dog that has his own decal on the fabrication workshop's door.

​A Plus owner Scott Allen is not only a sign maker; he is also an artist. He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor's degree in graphic design in 2003.

Scott Allen (right) says that when he bought A Plus Signs and Creative, he and his wife, Allison (left), were looking for a change in their lives. Photo courtesy Imani Khayyam

After college, Allen worked at A Plus under former owner Dale Howie for a couple of years and then left to be a full-time artist. In 2012, he began working for A Plus again. He took over the business in 2013.


"I think I was at the point in my life when I was interested in being self-employed," Allen says. "... (A Plus) was something that I could kind of change and make mine. Not that it wasn't an artistic company, but it wasn't what it is now. It was more just primarily a sign shop. With my artistic background, I felt like I could turn it into something unique and create a culture that would (have) a fun atmosphere to work (in) and be able to surround myself with other creatives."

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Photo courtesy Imani Khayyam

​Allen says that before Howie retired, he was one of the last traditional sign painters in the area who made the transition to digital format. Allen and Howie's son, Jordan, who also works at A Plus, wanted to keep the tradition of handpainting signs alive, which is why the company pushes for that whenever possible.


"(The tradition) was dying," Allen says. "Also, (those signs) are beautiful; they age well. When you see a 50-year-old handpainted sign, and it's faded ... to me, it's almost a beautiful art on the side of a building."

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Photo courtesy Imani Khayyam

The current location is about 10,000 square feet, and Allen says the business takes up a little more than half of that. The lobby area lets out into the graphics-production area. In the fabrication workshop, A Plus stores some of its past work, including sign mockups such as one for Local 463 Urban Kitchen and the neon BLBN sign that has lit up the night at Bright Lights, Belhaven Nights every August for the last three years.


The business has created signs and done art such as the Welcome to Brookhaven train car in Brookhaven, Miss., the sign over Barrelhouse in Fondren and more.


<em>For more information, visit aplusigns.com.</em>

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