About gUs

No matter what’s going on in the world, site maintenance is an imperative that never seems to go away.
gUs, Inc. represents a grassroots effort to reinvent and reallocate talents and resources toward a durable business model for site design, maintenance, safety, and layout. We’re here to help you build your next commercial construction project “from the ground up,” no matter what you need — we offer signs, bollards, barricades, stencils, and more.

What is gUs?

The name "gUs" is an acronym that stands for “ground-UP strategies.”

The term “ground up” represents multiple aspects of our business:

  • New facilities are often referred to as “ground-up” projects.
  • The term describes the types of services that we offer through the retail and site maintenance portions of our business — everything from the ground-up.
  • It’s a metaphor for new beginnings: starting fresh from the ground-up.

For all of these reasons, this name seemed appropriate for our brand.

Our subsidiary brands

gUs, Inc. is an Illinois corporation and has four subsidiaries:

  1. the groundUP stores is our retail division — both online and brick-and-mortar.

  2. the groundUP s.s.i. is our field services and contracting division; SSI stands for "Sales, Service, and Installation.” We offer installation on everything that we sell at the groundUP stores as well as seal coating, parking lot striping, bollard installation, sign removal and installation, and a whole host of other site maintenance and construction services.

  3. XentriX Studios is our custom vinyl and stencil shop — we can make anything from custom metal signs to banners and stencils of any size and configuration.

  4. Furman DeSigns is our architectural division. We offer design services for site layouts, office planning, and more.

Our promises to you

The groundUP stores operates with 12 basic business practices and goals in mind:

  1. Provide our customers with high-quality products, most of which are made right here in the USA.

  2. Provide honest and fair pricing — if we save money, you should save money, too.

  3. Assure that our customers purchase the products that are appropriate for their specific needs, builds, and applications.

  4. Stand behind our products and services, offering our customers a warranty on everything that we sell and all of our services.

  5. Strive for 100% customer satisfaction with each and every transaction.

  6. Treat even the smallest order and project with the urgency and respect that they deserve.

  7. Do what we say we're going to do, how and when we say we're going to do it.

  8. Communicate with our customers when unforeseen delays do occur — we won't leave you guessing.

  9. Always search for the win-win for our customers, partners, vendors, and employees.

  10. Become the go-to problem-solvers for our customers in as many ways as possible. 

  11. Never forget that business is about relationships — not about sales.

  12. Protect our greatest asset: our excellent reputation.

Our shipping policy

Since our inception, we've believed in providing fair shipping prices to our customers. In 2014, we began a FREE ground shipping service using UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

  • You still have the option to expedite the order if you need a product sooner than the standard shipping period. 
  • Products that are required to ship via freight due to size and/or weight are excluded from this free shipping service. 
  • We're ALWAYS looking for ways to save our customers money whenever possible, including on their shipping costs!

Please reach out for additional shipping options and related costs.

FREE SHIPPING ONLY APPLIES TO THE CONTIGUOUS 48 STATES. ADDITIONAL SHIPPING CHARGES SHALL APPLY TO ORDERS SHIPPED TO HAWAII, ALASKA, GUAM, PUERTO RICO, US VIRGIN ISLANDS AND ANY US MILITARY INSTALLATION WORLDWIDE.

Volume discounts

You will notice that the unit price on most items will decrease with the more items that you purchase (e.g., one sign may cost you $7.15, but could drop to $1.40 each if you purchased 25 signs). Always check multiple quantities to see how you can save money.

gUs, Inc.: Helping you build safe and successful sites

Simply put, gUs, Inc. and our subsidiaries are here to help you bring your dream sites to life.

We bring a level of professionalism and customer service into this industry that you don’t often get from site maintenance companies. Our diligent follow-up and honest business practices have helped us garner the trust of many companies throughout the Upper Midwest since our inception in 2009.

We’re always looking at ways to expand and develop our business. We welcome your input, and we encourage you to contact us if:

  • You encounter something that you don't think fits with our principles and goals
  • You know of a product or service that you think would be a good fit for us to offer
  • There's something that we don't do well, then tell us — we'll make every effort to correct the situation and prevent it from happening again

We’re looking forward to partnering with you on your next project.