What’s Going on at James Gang Printing?

By Geoff Page

The “Space For Lease” sign that appeared in the window of 4851 Newport Street, where James Gang Printing is located, has taken some people by surprise. The Rag looked into it but some pieces of the story are still missing.

The James Gang, for those not very familiar with it, is a venerable, Ocean Beach home-grown business by the James family. The business involved screen printing on clothing, T-shirts, sweatshirts, uniforms, and more. Because of its history, there is local interest in what might be happening.

Most of us old timers probably thought the James family still owned the business, but that changed at some point. Some oddities popped up researching the company, such as not even the AI assistant being able to find information about the James family selling the company.

There is information on the current owners, and that story has oddities. The best source of information was the August 2024 OBMA newsletter. There was a piece on Travis Doroski, the newest elected member of the OBMA Board of Directors, elected in July 2024.

Born and raised in San Diego and spent 2 years playing college football at Montana State University. After leaving Montana State University, he received his degree in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. In September 2017, he married Nicole Leavitt and her amazing beautiful daughter, Kylie. From there, Nicole started her own small business ,bookkeeping firm, Travis was the Operations Manager and in November 2022 they bought James Gang Printing. Since purchasing James Gang Printing, they have turned it into a Green Certified business, added embroidery in house, and bought another screen printing company in Miramar that has screen printing automation.

It appeared that Doroski made a number of admirable improvements to the business, at least according to the San Diego Community Power. A Feb 26, 2024 piece by Jill Monroe, titled “Power100 Champion James Gang Printing Makes Waves as San Diego’s Greenest Screen Printer,” detailed those efforts.

Through the San Diego Green Business Council Green Business Network, James Gang Printing was able to get certified as the only green printing shop in San Diego, implementing more than 50 key measurements in their business model – from properly storing and disposing of hazardous materials and inks with the City of Chula Vista’s waste recycling program, to encouraging employees to bike or walk to work and utilizing hybrid vehicles for product deliveries. They also partner with local non-profit Plastic Beach to recycle plastic bags, collaborating with TREX to recycle the materials into composite decking products.

Committed to powering a cleaner, greener energy future, James Gang Printing joined with San Diego Community Power (SDCP) in 2023 to become a Power100 Champion, opting up to 100% renewable energy. Power100 Champions enabled James Gang Printing to further solidify their commitment to being the greenest full-service printing company in San Diego.

“Since we use many different types of machines – from embroidery to direct to garment printing – our machines are running constantly throughout the day,” said Doroski. “Being a Power100 Champion helps us achieve our sustainability goals by doing something right for the environment daily as a small business, especially with our energy consumption.”

Doroski was quoted as saying, “We have a lot of work to do as a community to get Mother Earth back where she needs to be.” Very admirable goals, who would not agree.

The oddity in Doroski’s story is that he resigned from the OBMA Board of Directors in December, after only five months. The reason for the resignation was personal, apparently. It was not long after that The Rag was hearing rumblings and the lease sign appeared.

During a visit to the shop February 3, before the lease sign went up, this writer met one of the owners. He was unwilling to say anything. One thing was a surprise, he had not heard of The OB Rag.

During a second visit to the shop February 13, to see the lease sign, an employee confirmed the store was closing but would not say anything else. The employees suggested coming back on Monday to talk to the owner.

So, without a definitive answer from the James Gang, there is speculation. The first possibility would be the cost of the space. The business has been in this space less than two years. Lease agreements are usually longer but it could be that the rent went too high. This has happened to many businesses on Newport. Some credit Starbucks for setting off lease increases because of what that company paid for its spot over 20 years ago.

There is another possibility and it comes from what the OBMA Newsletter stated, that Doroski “bought another screen printing company in Miramar that has screen printing automation.” The word “automation” sort of jumps out of that sentence. Perhaps the company is moving its operations to the new place where it could reduce labor costs using automation. While perhaps understandable from a business perspective, this would not be a popular move.

At this point, no one knows what the plan is. One thing for certain is that this is not the old James Gang business, those days are gone. But, it does appear to still be a local business. Hopefully, it is healthy and continues to stay in OB.