Think about it for a second........
If all of these so-called wholesalers sold to sign shops only, they'd be outta business in no time.
FireSprint has been in business for 8 years now. (6 years as a Trade Only Supplier) We are strictly wholesale to the trade except for two scenarios:
1. I print signs for my lawn guy and he mows my lawn in exchange. (I know I'm lazy, but I hate mowing)
2. We donate signs to a local spaghetti feed once a year and a few other charity donations.
When we switched to trade only, we referred away all our existing non-trade customers in about a 6 month period. It was hard but it was worth it.
As a trade supplier, there are certain costs we just don't have that retail shops have, and we pass those savings on.
Signs2trade/eSigns is a great company, and if you don't work with FireSprint, you should at least work with them, but it is possible to have a trade only business model as well.