Beach Cat Prints opens shop

Beach Cat Prints is offering custom merchandise design and prints out of its new Birch Bay storefront, which celebrated its grand opening on May 12.

Beach Cat Prints employee Eliza McElroy was creating apparel for Beach Cat Brewing when the brewery’s co-owner Jake Gobeille approached her about running a business creating customized merchandise under Beach Cat LLC. 

McElroy, Dez Sanguinetti and Kaitlin Gobeille have been running the shop since January and just opened their doors to the public. The store has made apparel for local businesses, such as Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce and Cosmic Games as well as breweries as far away as Marysville. The shop offers a variety of services, including creating logos, designs, custom apparel, embroidery and vinyl. The store has a high-quality, direct-to-film printer that allows it to create many of its products, McElroy said. 

“My favorite part is the design process, and then seeing how happy people are with their custom merch,” McElroy said.

There are no minimum quantities for orders. Beach Cat Prints currently takes about two to three weeks for an order to be finished.

Beach Cat Prints also serves as a Birch Bay gift shop that features local artists who make art specific to Birch Bay. The store is offering month-to-month retail space for artists who make Birch Bay products. 

“I want to provide a service for the Birch Bay community,” McElroy said. “There’s a need in the area for a shop like this as well as a gift shop like this.”

The store is located in unit 104 of 4823 Alderson Road, next to Birch Bay Bike Shop. The store hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. For more information, visit beachcatprints.com.