Lewiston, ME-headquartered Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi/202900) continued a recent run of acquisitions on Wednesday with the purchase of Winter People Image Marketing (asi/362226) – a Maine-based distributorship that has counted Best Western, BJ’s, McDonald’s, Wyndham Hotel Group and Choice Hotels among its clients. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Going forward, the acquired firm –with locations in Freeport, ME and Falmouth, ME -- will operate as a division of Geiger under the name Geiger Winter People, executives told Counselor. Clay Bouton, Winter People’s senior vice president of sales, will remain as a key contact in the company. Overall, 15 people from Winter People will be joining Geiger. Dale Bouton (CEO) and Pat Bouton (VP/Treasurer) formerly owned Winter People.

Geiger CEO/President Jo-an Lantz; Clay, Dale and Pat Bouton of Winter People Image Marketing; Geiger General Counsel David Geiger.

"We are very pleased to have Clay and the Winter People team join Geiger,” said Geiger CEO/President Jo-an Lantz. “Their expertise with uniforms and apparel decoration will expand our resources and capabilities, and ultimately will enhance our program business.”

Founded by the Bouton family in 1987, Winter People has developed a strong reputation for providing high-quality uniform and promotional merchandising programs in New England, Geiger executives said. The firm’s differentiators include offering in-house apparel decoration for all programs. The Winter People client roster features hospitals, contractors, restaurants, schools, financial sector firms, and resort properties.

“With over 30 years of success serving the hospitality industry and corporate customers, we are excited to join forces with Geiger to offer a powerful, unified solution to image marketing,” said Clay Bouton. “We look forward to expanding our service capability. Leveraging Geiger’s strength in corporate programs is sure to help us continue to grow our business.”

Of late, Geiger has been busy making acquisitions domestically and overseas. A couple weeks ago, GeigerBTC -- Geiger’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom -- acquired York, England-based Response Marketing. In January, GeigerBTC acquired EMC Advertising Gifts, a London, U.K.-based company that’s been in business since 1966.

Also earlier this year, Geiger announced that it had acquired Illinois-based CM Promotions as part of a Midwest-focused expansion effort. That acquisition came in January, just a couple months after Geiger had acquired Massachusetts-headquartered Bank Express/Promo Warehouse, a web-based distributor with a national reach that is now operating as a division of Geiger.

After buying BTC Group in March 2018, Geiger rebranded the fast-growing firm as GeigerBTC.

With reported 2017 North American promotional product revenue of $185.5 million, Geiger ranked 10th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest distributors in the industry.