WESTPHALIA —MO Ink & Stitch owner Adam Massman didn’t expand because he wanted to; he expanded because he had no choice.

“We were getting pretty crammed in tight in our old place,” said Massman, who held an open house on Friday to show off the new facility. “I probably should have done it about a year earlier.”

Steady growth, increasing demand, and limited space led to the opening of a new 6,000-square-foot building along Hwy. 63, nearly tripling the size of the shop previously located just down the road a bit.

The move marks a major step forward for a business that started small, stayed local, and grew into something far larger than its original footprint.

The move marks a major step forward for a business that began in 2016 and has grown steadily each year since.

“This is our 10th year in business,” Massman said. “It just happened to work out where year 10 and the new shop hit at the same time.”

That timing wasn’t planned, but the growth behind it has been consistent. “We’ve grown, on average, about 40% a year since we opened shop,” Massman said. “And it continues to kind of be that way. We’re above what we did last year again this year.”

Massman started the business after recognizing a gap in the local market.

“I was starting to see a lot of people going to Jeff City or somewhere else for this type of product,” he said. “There just weren’t enough printers and embroidery companies around here. It looked like a need that needed to be filled.”

That need has been supported not only by schools and teams, but by area businesses.

“The teams are great, but the corporate stuff is really where the support has come from,” Massman said. “The businesses around here have been huge in keeping it local.”

Although the new location is only about a quarter-mile from the previous shop, the difference in visibility has been immediate after moving from Rt. T onto Hwy. 63.

“In a little under two months, I’ve already had more stop-in business than I had in nine and a half years over there,” Massman said. “So it makes a big difference.”

Before opening MO Ink & Stitch, Massman worked at Quaker Windows and Doors, and spent several years living in Colorado, where he met his wife, Joy. After returning to Missouri, he went back to work at Quaker while beginning the business in a shop behind his house.

“I just started thinking of different things I could do,” he said. “This is the one that made the most sense.”

That original setup has evolved into a full production operation capable of handling both small and large orders.

“Our record is 3,240 shirts in one day, and Brittany (Dulle) is the one who broke it,” said Massman, admitting to his chagrin that it was his years-long record of 3,216 shirts that was beaten. “That takes three people working nonstop for about 10 hours.”

He explained that one employee loads shirts, another removes them, and a third handles boxing, with each person maintaining the pace throughout the day.

“You stand in that one spot for about 10 hours. You don’t move. You’re just doing this all day,” Massman said. “It makes for a very long day. You literally just stand in your spot for hours, or it won’t get done.”

Those days are rare—but they define the ceiling of what the operation can handle. More often, the work is fragmented.

Production varies throughout the year. During ball season, the shop handles smaller orders —10 to 15 shirts at a time — that require frequent design changes. Larger corporate orders, often exceeding 1,000 shirts, are typically completed in a single day once production is set.

“It’s so hard to give averages because every time of year is a little bit different,” Massman said.

Despite the expanded facility, the operation remains small. Massman employs two full-time workers and one part-time employee, with design work handled by Aaron Wilbers. Dulle has been with the business for more than five years, while Madison Rehagen has worked there for a little over a year. Massman said he expects to add another full-time employee as the business continues to grow.

“If I could find two more like them, I’d be set,” he added. “They’re amazing.”

The business has also grown alongside Massman’s family. His wife initially handled design work before stepping away as their family expanded. The couple has two daughters, ages 7 and 4.

Massman said the move from Colorado back to Westphalia was easy for him, but required an adjustment for his wife, who came from a larger city environment.

“She’s a city girl through and through,” he said. “Coming here was a little bit of a change of culture.”

Over time, that perspective shifted. “It took her years, but now she’ll tell you she’s glad we’re here,” Massman said.

Looking ahead, Massman said the focus is on improving efficiency rather than expanding product lines.

“There is another piece of machinery that I would like to purchase at some point,” he said. “It’s just going to be something more efficient that allows us to crank more out in the day.”

For now, the new facility provides the space needed to sustain the business’s continued growth while keeping production rooted in the community it was built to serve.