14/03/2026
People are asking why we left Pontiac, where we've been for 4 generations, so here goes.
In the early 60s my grandfather Malcolm T. McGlasson left Noble Bros seeds in Gibson City to start his own seed company, Pontiac Quality Seed House. As the seed part of the business declined my grandmother, Annette B. McGlasson, became a florist and we also began selling bedding plants and lawn & garden supplies. As Kmart, Big R and Walmart also sold all of that we had to make other plans and my father closed the store for good.
Fast-forward to 2017, I was working in Nashville and suddenly I needed to be 24/7 dad so we started Seed House Prints in our home town of Pontiac. (It was my son's idea to use the Seed House name)
We made Pontiac part of our branding, pushing that connection with everything we did but the truth is our business has been 90% outside Pontiac from day 1 despite our best efforts. And despite numerous requests we've never once been invited to bid on any city business, not for the FD, the PD, public works depts, none of it. My requests to find out why we don't get city business went unanswered until I gave up, though I was once told by a member of city government that since my father was on city council for 17 years that it would look "improper" for us to get city business. All of that business is done by one shop outside Pontiac and with no bid process.
While we did have a partnership with a downtown business for a while we've never been able to secure one with someone who wants our full line of goods despite our offer to pay for all of it and market it. People from all over the US and beyond buy our Midwest-themed vintage-style goods but we've never been able to make it happen here. Boutiques in SD, GA, WY and beyond sell our goods with Pontiac-themed designs but you can't get them in Pontiac.
"So why don't you just have a store downtown then?"
We tried.
When we put our Ladd St. building on the market we looked into getting a building downtown where we'd live, work and do retail sales. We tried to get a building which the city owns, is just sitting there half-gutted right in the heart of downtown but got no urgency from the city to make it happen, and it didn't, and the building is untouched, still empty.
A little over a year ago we formed a new partnership, have moved our shop to LaSalle and will soon have a full retail store right on 1st St while doing the same in Waterloo, NY later this year, where we got a grant to move our business.
We're excited about the future but will always have a lingering sadness that we weren't able to do it in Pontiac and remain part of the town that we've been part of for decades. Our hearts will always be there and I'm still there 2-3 days a week.
To our wonderful Pontiac customers, nothing changes. We'll still hand-print your goods and deliver them to you in person as we always have! It'll always be home.
Thank you for supporting us and we hope you'll be with us in the future!
