40 Years of Davant Indy: How One Print Shop Grew with the Community

In 1986, John and Doreen Long started a print shop on the north side of Indianapolis, in a building just shy of 1,500 square feet. It was a retail operation: walk-ins, basic print jobs, the kind of business that runs on word of mouth and showing up every day with your sleeves rolled up. Nobody mapped it out. Nobody could have. What they built instead was something more durable than a plan. A reputation.

Forty years later, that small beginning has grown into one of the most trusted print and marketing companies in the greater Indianapolis area. You know us as Davant Indy, but the name is only the beginning. So, to celebrate our 40th anniversary, we’re taking you on a trip down memory lane – one full of trials, tribulations, and a whole lot of community support.

From Retail Roots to Commercial Reach

In just a few years, Long’s print business outgrew its original retail model and transitioned into commercial printing, shifting its focus to the B2B relationships that would define its growth for decades to come.

Commercial printing is a different business from retail. It demands deeper client relationships, more complex production capabilities, and the ability to deliver consistently at volume — not just once, but every time. Making that transition in a market like Indianapolis, where every client is also a neighbor, took a particular kind of commitment, and the Longs had it.

Building Something That Lasts — Literally

Then, in 1998, the business built its own facility. It was a concrete expression of confidence not just in print, but in the community itself. That kind of investment signaled permanence: the shop wasn’t just renting space while figuring things out; it was planting deep roots within the community. Eight years later, the building expanded, adding capacity to match the growing demand for services that had steadily broadened well beyond the original print-only model.

Over the years, signage, mailing services, promotional products, apparel, and vehicle graphics were added to the mix, each one a response to what clients actually needed rather than a calculated push into new markets for its own sake. That organic growth was a hallmark of a business built on relationships while becoming one of the top top producers in the national franchise network. Clients asked, the team delivered, and the service offering expanded to match.

The People Behind the Press

Every business has numbers: square footage, years in operation, services offered. What the numbers don’t capture is the human story running underneath them. In forty years, this business has had its share of both.

In 2006, Missy Tennant stepped into an outside sales role, taking over for her husband, Rod Supan, after his passing from cancer. The grace and determination it takes to step into that role under those circumstances is no small thing. Missy didn’t just fill a position. She became a central part of what this business is today. Her commitment to clients, the community, and the standards built over four decades helped carry the business forward through a chapter that could have gone in a very different direction.

A New Name, the Same Commitment

By 2016, Missy had bought the business, rebranded it as Davant Indy, and made the official move to Greenfield, IN. The name change better reflected the full scope of what the company had grown to offer and the broader market it served. But the rebrand wasn’t a reinvention. The team, the relationships, the commitment to quality production and genuine client service — none of that changed. What changed was how the business presented itself to the world, and how clearly we could communicate who it was and what it stood for.

Today, Davant Indy is recognized as one of the area’s best independent print shops, a distinction that reflects not just production volume but the quality and consistency that clients in Greenfield, Indianapolis, and across Hancock County have come to rely on. It’s a long way from 1,490 square feet, built one job at a time over forty years.

What Forty Years Actually Means

Forty years in business is rare. Most businesses don’t make it to ten. The ones that reach forty have done something right, not once but continuously, through shifting markets, evolving technology, new client demands, and the inevitable personal challenges that come with building anything over a long stretch of time.

What we’ve built over these four decades isn’t just a print company. It’s a resource for the businesses around it, a reliable partner that shows up with expertise, consistency, and a genuine investment in helping clients succeed. The brochures, the banners, the vehicle wraps, the direct mail campaigns, the branded apparel: all of it has been in service of helping other businesses in this community look and operate at their best.

Thank You for 40 Years

None of this happens without the clients who trusted us with their businesses, the community that welcomed us and kept us accountable, and the people who showed up, sometimes under extraordinary circumstances, and gave this company everything they had.

To everyone who has been part of this story: thank you. Forty years is a milestone worth marking, but what we’re most proud of isn’t the number. It’s what it represents. Four decades of work done well, relationships built with care, and a community we’re honored to be part of.

Here’s to what comes next. If you’re ready to work with a team that’s been at this for forty years and isn’t done yet, we’d love to hear from you.

Forty Years, One Community: How Davant Indy Grew Up in Greenfield