Service Printers Hawaii Still Flourishes Despite a Challenging Market

2025 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award winner: Mother-and-daughter team Kathy and Jodie Yamashiroya run the family business – Hawai‘i’s only union printing shop.

The digital world has put many printing companies out of business, but Service Printers Hawaii is still flourishing after 61 years. It’s the only union printing shop left in the Islands, and it’s still owned by the family of one of its founders.

The company was created by Yoshiharu Hirota, Fred Nagasawa and Roy Yamashiroya, who took over a defunct print shop on Sheridan Street in Honolulu. In December 2004, Roy Yamashiroya sold the company to his son Dean and five employees. After Dean’s death in 2012, his widow, Kathy, and daughter Jodie took over the business.

Jodie Yamashiroya says the company’s mission has remained the same through the years: to provide outstanding service and high-quality printing at competitive prices.

“We’re not just in sales, we’re consultants as well. We work with our customers and marketing departments to produce the best product that will fit the customer’s needs,” she says.

“The people behind this company are family. We’ve had employees here for 40-plus years, most of whom I grew up around. And so when my dad passed, my mom and I had to jump in.”

One of those long-term employees is Bruce Inouye, who started about 25 years ago as a production worker and worked closely with Dean Yamashiroya. Now he’s VP and a key decision-maker for the company.

“The two of us never worked with my husband but Bruce did. His expertise impacts everything we do,” says Kathy Yamashiroya.

Service Printers has kept evolving to meet challenges that have driven many other printing companies out of business.

“Staying relevant is tough with everything going digital. The equipment is expensive, and with Hawai‘i’s small economy, many print shops have closed since I started. We’re just grateful to still be here,” Jodie Yamashiroya says.

Sustainability helps guide the company, which uses paper partly made from recycled materials and soy-based inks.

And now all the equipment is in a new location. Service Printers Hawaii had been located on Dillingham Boulevard for most of the past six decades, but the rail project spurred a move to a “bigger, brighter” location on Iwaena Street in ‘Aiea, says Jodie Yamashiroya.