Alan Thomas said he had gradually withdrawn from the Melbourne operation since initiating a succession plan about seven years ago.
That plan started with him allocating one-third of the profits to his son, production manager Mason Thomas. Mason's share of the profits has steadily increased – and on 1 July it will hit 70%, where it will remain until he inherits the business from his father.
Alan, 69, now works part-time in accounts, leaving his son to run Print City. He told ProPrint that he expected to retire in two years, but that nothing had been finalised.
Print City has six staff, turns over more than $1 million per year, and runs a two-colour Heidelberg GTO 52, Xerox DocuColor 8000, Xerox Color 1000 and two monochrome Ricohs, he said. At its peak, it had 18 staff and three sites, he added.
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The stock market crash of 1987 almost destroyed the firm, because 40% of its work was share registry printing, said Thomas.
"We were the only one in Melbourne that could do the continuous printing that they used to need in those days," he said.
Mason, 39, joined Print City in 1997. "When I started, there were three of us – my old man, the press man and the apprentice. I learned everything on the job," he told ProPrint.
"Within about three months, I was pretty much doing everything aside from running the press – platemaking, quoting, guillotining. It was a good way to learn. I didn't have a title for three or four years. I morphed into becoming production manager 10 to 12 years ago."
He said the firm was currently in "a holding pattern" as it tried to manage the difficult market.
"The game plan for the next 12-18 months is to hold firm and make sure we're still around while all these other guys go out of business. Then we can look at what the next growth area is."
Print City is actively involved with charity Wear for Success and was previously involved for more than a decade with another charity, The Primary Club, said Alan Thomas.
"You're part of the world. You give and you take. Basically, the business has been good to us, we've made money, so you don't sit on it," he said.
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