The advertising concept was to sell
classifieds and display ads from mer-
chants and mail the shopper to EVERY home and business in the area with no subscriptions and free to every home and business
giving almost 100% advertising coverage. Circulation that was originally about 3,500 households increased in stages to its present circulation that exceeds 20,000. The first office was located in the
basement of the former Clemens building adjacent to the Kimbark Inn on South Division Street across from the post office (now part of the Huntington Bank drive-in and alleyway). The Hi-Lites moved very shortly to the basement of the Fremont Bank & Trust building on the corner of Main and South Division. The next move was to the office building on Deur Chevrolet’s used car lot located on West Main. From there it went to 18 East Main next to the Ben Franklin Dime Store where the office was shared with the Credit Bureau. This was originally a bank building and is now utilized as lawyers offices. In the late 1960’s, an opportunity arose to rent the main floor and basement of the former
Mason building at 430 West Main Street - now used as a parking lot for Webb Lumber and Tire Wholesalers. At this location, new presses and new offset printing was begun. Many advances were made in the technology of printing preparation procedures and the actual printing. Printing presses were reserved for job printing, and the Shoppers’ Guide pages were prepared and processed through photonegative style, then were jobbed out for printing on big presses at Allegan and then later at Ravenna. In the early 1980’s, plans were considered to bring the Shoppers’ Guide printing production in-house, but a much larger building was required. The Dri-Slide Company was moving into a larger facility so Hi-Lites acquired their building at Connie and Locust at the entry of the Fremont Industrial Park. By moving to this new location, many advancements were made possible including a web printing press to print the Shoppers’ Guide as well as other regional newspapers and periodicals, multi-color printing presses, bindery and computer composition equipment to expand the commercial printing portion of the business. Today the business still continues as a family run operation with Ben & Marie’s son Jon Sovinski and son-in-law Tom Kowalski presently involved as working partners in the business.