Two Colortronics print shop staff in Dunedin have been offered full-time employment despite $200,000 of work falling through after fire gutted their former workplace.
Dunedin Print owner Dale Hopkins said he offered Colortronics typesetter Jared Bath and graphic designer Andy Frampton six-month employment contracts after the Colortronics building in Filleul St was gutted by fire in November last year.
The two staff were promised full-time employment at Dunedin Print if enough work from Colortronics clients followed them to Dunedin Print, he said.
However, most of the work went elsewhere, Mr Hopkins said.
''The financial return from the Colortronics fire is virtually non-existent.''
A ''large proportion'' of the Colortronics work came from the University of Otago until staff were ''instructed'' they had to use the University of Otago printing service Uniprint, he said.
Uniprint now had the monopoly on the university printing market and consequently Dunedin Print had lost $200,000 in revenue.
''Which is a real shame ... Dunedin Print had never really been in the university work but Colortronics did have quite a large chunk.''
Despite the work going elsewhere and the continued ''financial squeeze'' from the recession, the recent retirement of two staff had meant the company could offer Mr Bath and Mr Frampton full-time employment.
''The two of them make us a better team.''
Mr Hopkins' father, Evan, had leased the gutted Filleul St building to Colortronics owner Thomas Garforth. He was advertising for a tenant and would ''build to order'' on the vacant site, Mr Hopkins said.
Fire investigators had determined the cause of the fire was a power board, he said.
