Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • October 8, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing MANUFACTURING Wallingford manufacturer pierces international body-art market T hird-generation Wallingford manufacturer Maria J. Pinto was overjoyed in 2016 about expanding overseas her line of precision needles for tattooing, body-piercing and medical applica- tions, but she soon realized it came with a hitch. Pinto found it cost $47 to ship up to 5 pounds of needles from Connecticut to her European wholesale clients. So, Pinto recently found a location in the United Kingdom from which her company, Industrial Strength LLC, can ship from there for $10 a batch, mean- ing, she says, overseas customers can afford to buy more of her needles. With Europe the latest global market to open its doors to Indus- trial Strength's 55 needle varieties comprising its "SharpAss Needle" and "SlickAss Needle" brands, Pinto says she expects to push 2019 sales to around $2 million, nearly double her present $1.2 million sales pace. Ninety-percent of sales are to tattoo and body-piercing salons; the rest to the medical sector — about 6,000 customers in all, she said. In its own tiny way, Industrial Strength is poised to contribute to the $14.8 billion in Connecticut exports racked up in 2017, up 2.7 percent from $14.4 billion in 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. "What's helping us grow signifi- cantly,'' Pinto said, "is we've gotten a lot of [Small Business Administration] financing based on our international trade.'' A Pittsburgh, Pa., art-school gradu- ate, Pinto went into the family busi- ness, which began in 1973 in Branford as Glowacki Medical using her grand- father John J. Glowacki's patented pro- cess for making hypodermic needles. Later, Glowacki Medical was dis- solved and the family opened Lifeline Products in 1976. Pinto worked for Lifeline, then in 1996 launched Indus- trial Strength. Pinto, who says she had friends and contacts in the tattoo-body-piercing market, originally had the idea of buy- ing big batches of needles wholesale for resale. Years later, with just three workers, Maria Pinto procured $275,000 from the Hartford Economic Development Corp. (HEDCO), and in 2012 expanded Indus- trial Strength into a manufacturer and distributor of body-piercing needles. Today, she and her staff of seven produce some 9 million needles annu- ally on machinery copied largely from her grandfather's patented design in 7,000 square feet of owned produc- tion space in the shadow of the Wilbur Cross Freeway/Route 5-15. Pinto says she plans to soon install a second needle grinder to increase output. "My priority is my body-piercing and tattoo clients. That why we're building more machines,'' she said. Bowing to demand, Industrial Strength also offers its Naked All Natural Body line of salves, lotions and ointments for soothing and healing fresh tattoos and piercings. Pinto's biggest challenge is find- ing capable workers, a common issue among Connecticut manufacturers. Industrial Strength, she said, partici- pates in the state's "Step Up" initiative in which employers are reimbursed for half the pay for six months for each eligible worker she hires. DEAL WATCH Plainville office building sold at $1.25M A 10,000-square-foot Plainville office building recently sold for $1.25 million. Cooke's Corner LLC sold the building at 146 New Britain Ave. to 146 New Britain Ave. LLC. The property is home to several long-term tenants including PSA Healthcare, NIKTOR, Primerica, True Benefit and Attorney Aaron Sarra. Amodio & Co. represented the seller. $950K Southington sale A 9,518-square-foot Southington office building drew a buyer who paid $950,000 for the property. MJM Milestone LLC sold 72 Queen St. to 72 Queen LLC, according to Farmington broker Amodio & Co., who represented buyer and seller. Fully leased at sale, the building's tenants include: Edu4Retirement, Accuvision and Stuart Clark CPA. $472K N. Britain office sale An 11,500-square-foot New Britain office building sold for $472,500. TLONG Construction LLC purchased the three-story building at 205 W. Main St. from Hospital of Central Connecticut, according to sole broker Reno Properties Group LLC. TLONG has retained Reno to lease 3,700 square feet of vacant office space on the first floor. BANKING & FINANCE CT sheds 24 bank branches Banks in Connecticut continue to shrink their branch footprints. There were 1,159 branches in the state at the end of June, according to a new analysis by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was down 2 percent from a year earlier. Bank of America, by far the state's largest bank by de- posits, shed the most branches, closing 12 from June 2017 to June 2018, FDIC data show. Connecticut banks have been closing branches for years as the rise of online and digital banking technology allows customers to access and open accounts and even take out loans anytime and anywhere. CT branches Bank 2018 2017 Difference Bank of America 122 134 (12) Webster Bank 115 116 (1) People's United Bank 146 150 (4) Wells Fargo Bank 71 71 0 TD Bank 67 70 (3) JPMorgan Chase Bank 49 49 0 Citibank 14 14 0 KeyBank 63 69 (6) United Bank 33 32 1 Total CT branches 1,159 1,183 (24) Source: FDIC 146 New Britain Ave., Plainville. 72 Queen St., Southington. 205 W. Main St., New Britain. Artist-turned-entrepreneur Maria Pinto used her grandfather's needle-grinding expertise to tap a global market. HBJ PHOTO | GREGORY SEAY PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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