#MVPMondays: Jeff Perdziak!

Welcome to Dave & Adam’s MVP Monday, where we will highlight a member of our staff each week!

This week’s MVP is from our local Williamsville, NY retail store! Meet our former General Manager and new Hit Parade Team Member, Jeff Perdziak! 

Jeff has been with Dave & Adam’s for over four years, but his career prior to his start with the company is nothing short of amazing.

“I started my career at American Color, which was a “diamond in the ruff” company previously based in Buffalo, NY.  AC colored and distributed all the daily and Sunday comics for the country’s newspapers. It was so great to be part of a company that made such a “historic mark” in the newspaper and printing industry. It was all done here from day one in Buffalo.”

Jeff was able to learn all of the operations of the pre-press facility that helped the country’s newspaper comics grow for over 11 years! But with the advances in technology, American Color eventually closed and Jeff progressed elsewhere.

“Once I was done at American Color, I was hired as an artist in the art department at the New Buffalo Shirt Factory. I created a lot of design work for the company, especially working closely with Music City Merchandising based in Nashville.  I designed products for artists such as Jason Alden, Trace Adkins, the Rolling Stones, and more!”

Working at the New Buffalo Shirt Factory, Jeff designed the tee-shirt artwork for Jason Alden’s My Kinda Party album, a Multi-Platinum recording selling more than two million copies!

“The owner of Music City Merchandising had an opportunity to award some of the companies for their contributions to the album.  He was going to give the award to New Buffalo Shirt Factory, but rather awarded the Platinum record directly to myself personally for having designed the tee-shirt artwork for the album.”

Jeff’s experience and design work with the New Buffalo Shirt Factory brought other great opportunities like the Rolling Stones’ baseball tongue logo that was used on tour merchandise.  The company was eventually sold and Jeff had to continue his career elsewhere.  This time Jeff took the opportunity to become a freelance artist.

“I made a valiant effort to be an artist full-time for a year. That was about all I could afford with my life savings. I was making artwork for children’s books, comics and portraits.”

His efforts to be a full-time artist was a constant juggling act and added many titles to his personal business card. Everything from facilitating meetings and creating art, to full-time salesman and social media promoter was on the daily schedule.  He also filled his days with his favorite roles of husband and father. Jeff realized that he would need something more to help supplement his artwork if he was to provide for his family.

“I was a normal customer with Dave & Adam’s before I became an employee.  I’m a big comic book fan, so I loved the store. I always thought the staff was great and purchased some of my collection there.  During one of my visits, I found out that they needed part-time help on the sales floor. It was just what I needed to supplement my artwork business.”

Jeff was hired to work part-time for Dave & Adam’s, but just like in his previous jobs, Jeff progressed steadily! As Jeff grinded at the job, more hours became available for him to the point where he ended up working at the retail store normal full-time hours .  He took ownership of “Family Fun Fridays”, where he organized and booked special guests for customers to enjoy like magicians, balloon artists and even sketches by Jeff himself!

“The largest event that I created while working here was definitely “Free Comic Book Day”. Thousands of people had lined up outside the store for a full day of comic fun.  We had free comics, superheroes in costumes and vendors for customers to enjoy.  It was truly a memorable day here at Dave & Adam’s.”

After having such a positive impact for the company, Jeff was promoted to Assistant Manager, but quickly became the General Manager a month later!

“When COVID hit last year and everything shut down, I had only been an assistant manager for about a month.  Then our GM at the time, Andrea was switched over to our headquarters and I was quickly promoted to the role. When we finally opened during the pandemic, we didn’t expect that the industry would have the growth it has. So needless to say, I felt a lot of pressure being that Dave & Adam’s really was my first retail job.”

Jeff has handled the role successfully in a year that no one could have expected.  His constant drive for the company shows his character as an employee.  Although Jeff enjoyed his time as the GM of the retail store, he will soon be lending his artistic talents to the company in a new and unique way.

“I will be transitioning to work for Hit Parade, creating original content and artwork.  I couldn’t be more excited to begin my next phase with the company. It has been something that I thought of doing since day one with Dave & Adam’s. I will be creating sketch cards, painting on sports gear and creating different art pieces that will all be autographed by athletes for different limited run Hit Parade series. 

Jeff has already started with a few projects! Here is a baseball that Jeff worked on this past weekend at our retail store!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to stay tuned on Jeff’s artwork with Hit Parade and Dave & Adam’s!

Thank you for joining us for this week’s MVP Monday, and thank you Jeff for being a part of the Dave & Adam’s family!