
January 20, 2025
ARCADIA – For the past seven decades, CEO Chris Blaschko said the mission of Supreme Graphics – now in its third generation of family ownership – has been about more than printing.
Though in the business of printing, Blaschko said “we feel that our company produces something much larger than ink and toner on paper.”
“We take pride in the fact that the documents we create help tell our customers’ story and make their businesses more successful,” he said.
A look back
Supreme Graphics got its start in 1955, when Blaschko’s grandfather, Harry – “HB” – relocated from Le Center, Minnesota, to Arcadia to purchase the local newspaper (the Arcadia News-Leader) and print for a local school supply firm (School Form and Supply Company).
In 1967, according to the company’s website (supremegraphics.com), HB changed the name from School Form and Supply Company to Supreme School Supply Company.
As the company continued to grow, Blaschko said his grandfather expanded the operation into five different buildings in downtown Arcadia.
In 1972, he said, HB moved the operation to its current 50,000-square-foot headquarters in the newly formed Arcadia Industrial Park (625 Dettloff Drive).
HB’s son, Chuck (Blaschko’s father) said he – as well as his brothers Jim and Al – became involved in the family business as a teenager.
Though he joined the Navy after graduating high school in 1967, Chuck said the plan was always for him to join the family business one day.
“I pretty much knew that I wasn’t going to go to college, but I needed to go out and see the rest of the world – so my passport to that was the Navy,” he said. “But I always figured I would come back in and get involved in the business.”
Returning to the company in 1971, Chuck said he focused primarily on the newspaper side of the business at first.
“We started with a two-color press (and transitioned) to a five-color press with all the bells and whistles over the years,” he said
In 1990, Blaschko said the company started its commercial printing division – Supreme Graphics.
“Prior to that, we were mostly doing school supply products through our Supreme School Supply division,” he said. “Until 1990, it was mostly the newspaper and Supreme School Supply. And then in 1990 is when we started a commercial printing division – Supreme Graphics – which is our largest and most successful as of today.”
Shortly after, in 1992, Blaschko said HB officially turned over ownership of the company to his three sons – his father, Chuck and his uncles, Jim and Al – with Chuck serving as CEO.
From then on, Chuck said, the company continued to invest in equipment to support the ever-changing needs of its customers, which included:
- The purchase of its first Xerox DocuColor 12 digital press
- The installation of its first Direct-To-Plate device to speed up its pre-press process and improve quality
- The addition of a new six-color, 23×29 printing press with Aqueous and UV coating capabilities
- Implementing a website with web-to-print capabilities
- The addition of a 63-inch Solvent Inkjet printer, followed by a second one a year later
- Installing its largest press to date (2009), a 28-inch-by-40-foot Heidelberg SM102
- Adding a UV flatbed printer (Mimaki JF-1631) capable of printing directly onto 5-foot-by-10-foot sheets of rigid material
- Installing a new Heidelberg CD102 40-inch offset press
- Upgrading to a new Mimaki JFX500 UV-LED flatbed large format printer and a Mimaki JV300 roll printer
- Adding a new 13×19 Heidelberg Versafire CV digital press with clear and white ink printing capabilities
- Installing a 13×19 Lanier 8120s digital black/white press and a Printware iJetColor inkjet digital envelope press
“We went through a tremendous amount of advancement in the printing industry,” Chuck said. “It’s been really exciting to see what’s been available, and keeping up with (the changes). We have invested a lot of money in new technology and faster, bigger presses.”
The last 70 years, Blaschko said, also included the end of Supreme Graphics’ work with the Arcadia News-Leader – “it merged with other local newspapers into a county-wide newspaper called the Trempealeau County Times” – and the acquisition of Howe Printing Company in Prairie du Chien.

“We were always doing a lot of their whole full-color work, so it was a natural move to acquire Howe Printing Company,” Chuck said.
Of Supreme Graphics’ current 47 employees, he said nine of them are located at the company’s Prairie du Chien location.
A family affair
Just as his dad did 50-plus years ago, Blaschko said he grew up in the family business – spending his summers doing odd jobs from mowing lawns to making deliveries.
After high school, Blaschko said he attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before returning to the company, starting his career in sales.
“I had 50 years in the business when I made the decision to move Chris into the CEO role,” Chuck said. “I’m still here for questions.”
Blaschko said from the time he officially joined the family business in 2002 to assuming the CEO role in 2021, he gradually moved up the ranks.
“I had a lot of different roles – learning all the aspects of the business,” he said.
As the third-generation leader of Supreme Graphics, Blaschko said “you have a different sense of pride in the company when it’s a family run business.”
“Passing that torch from generation to generation to generation is pretty meaningful,” he said. “Being a job provider in the community is a big deal as well.”
As businesses get handed down over generations, Chuck said, “it seems to get more challenging along the way.”
“When I took over, we were at about $3.5 million in total sales,” he said. “This year, we’re at more than $8 million in sales.”
In addition to being supported by continuous family ownership, Chuck said much of the company’s steady growth can be credited to its dedicated workforce.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have a strong employee base – we’ve had people that have been here for 20, 30 years,” he said. “Some of them have retired after 50 years.”
The future in mind
Blaschko said the past seven decades have also been accompanied by efficiency and sustainability.
“If you want to stay competitive, we’ve also got to stay lean – so I guess that’s part of the natural evolution of (the industry),” he said.
A project Supreme Graphics wrapped up at its Arcadia location last year, Blaschko said, was the conversion to LED lighting throughout the building – a move he describes as a win-win, as “it’s good for the environment and it saves us money.”
“It’s something we were considering over the years and finally decided to do it,” he said. “And frankly, I wish we would have done it a lot sooner, because we are seeing a lot of savings on our electric bill.”
Blaschko said they are in the process of doing the same for Supreme Graphic’s Prairie du Chien location.
As Supreme Graphics looks to the future, Blaschko said he sees continued, “slow, steady growth.”
“I don’t foresee us making huge leaps – our focus is on being as efficient as we can and controlling costs as best we can and the growth then comes from that,” he said.
Over the years, Blaschko said much of the company’s growth has come through word-of-mouth referrals.
“This kind of approach has worked well for us,” he said. “Serve customers well and they’ll speak highly of you and generate new business that way.”
Just as he did and his father did before him, Blaschko said his 17-year-old son is getting his feet wet in the family business.
When asked whether he thinks his son will eventually be the fourth generation of Supreme Graphics, Blaschko said “there’s always a chance.”
“He’s in high school, and I’m not sure of his plans or how everything is going to play out, but I guess there’s always that possibility,” he said. “He’s already kind of doing the same thing I did, helping wherever he can at the moment, but (time will tell).”
Community, small-town focused
Though the industry and how Supreme Graphics does business has changed over the last 70 years, Blaschko said the company’s focus on the community has remained steady.
For the past nine years, specifically, Blaschko said the company has held an annual fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network.
“We do silent auctions and other activities to generate money amongst employees for the Children’s Miracle Network and then the company matches that amount raised,” he said. “In the past nine years, we’ve raised, I think, just shy of $18,000.”
Being located in Arcadia – a city of fewer than 4,000 people – Blaschko said, has allowed Supreme Graphics to maintain its small-town business feel, while supporting companies of all sizes due to its close proximity to larger communities.
“We’re centrally located between La Crosse, Eau Claire and Winona, Minnesota, which is a benefit,” he said. “We’re in a small town, yet we’re located near three larger communities, so that’s been one of the factors for our growth.”
In the same breath, Blaschko said Supreme Graphics caters to businesses of all sizes.
“Whether it’s a small mom-and-pop shop that needs 250 business cards a year or a Fortune 500 company that has a much larger set of needs from a printing standpoint – we’re set up to handle most any size customer that comes our way,” he said.
Blaschko said Supreme Graphics is also able to provide a variety of different types of printing, from digital printing to larger run offset printing to large-format signage and banners.
“And then some of the additional services include graphic design – so we can take a customer’s project and design it from initial concept to completion – mailing services and fulfillment services,” he said.