How a Focus on Family Led to a National Company Born in the NRV

From Left to Right: Taylor Chrisman, Melanie Chrisman, Anne Chrisman, and Craig Chrisman

Craig Chrisman grew up in Radford, and when it was time for college, he wanted to make sure he invested in a marketable degree. He graduated from Radford University in 1980 with a degree in Business Management and found a position with a locally based box company.
Anne Pugh grew up in Pulaski County and graduated from Virginia Tech in 1982 with a degree in Finance. She also found a good position in Radford, working as a banker handling commercial loans. The couple wed in 1983 and soon had three sons, Taylor, Preston, and Parker.
After Parker was born in 1992, Craig wanted to plan a strategy that would allow him the flexibility to spend more time with family. He knew that starting his own business would be the perfect thing that would let him be there for Anne and the boys, and he had come to love the box-making industry. His ultimate dream was to create his own box-making company.
Being a commercial banker, Anne worked with business loans every day. She knew very well what it would take to get a new business off the ground, and it wasn’t going to be easy. There would be a lot of sacrifice.
The first sacrifice came with selling the plot of land the couple had bought to build their new, rural dream home. Anne had grown up on a farm but moved to the city of Radford after marrying Craig. The home had been planned so that she could return to the natural setting that she loved. Anne also cashed in her 401K.
Craig also sacrificed his bass boat. In late 1994, with the funds they had arranged, the Chrismans purchased an empty building at auction in Christiansburg. The insulation was falling out of the ceiling and there was no heat, but it was available, and it was cheap! The 5000 square foot property was part of a multi-building lot beside an old skating rink that is all now part of the Shelor Motor Mile.
It needed a lot of work, but to Craig and Anne, it was beautiful because it allowed them to set up and launch Prestar Packaging! The name is a combination of Taylor, Preston and Parker’s names, all woven together. Preston, however, likes to claim the most fame! The building also had a loading bay, so it was a perfect starter location for the business.
The Chrismans rented a massive propane heater, then bought some scaffolding from a second-hand sale. Craig set up the scaffolding inside the building and used it to shove the insulation back into the ceiling and sew it up!
Their first set of box machines was purchased from a North Carolina printing company at a cost of a mere $14,000. A man in the industry who sold box machinery knew that Craig was starting his own business, so when the North Carolina printing company asked the man if he knew anyone who might want to buy the machines, the connection was made.
Finally, a line of credit was obtained from a local bank to purchase starter materials. With the building, the equipment, and the materials ready to go, the Chrismans, along with their parents and brothers, fulfilled their first order over the week of Christmas, 1994. The boys, ages seven, five, and two, picked up trash throughout the days and slept on cots while their parents and family worked well into the nights to complete the order. On January 2, 1995, that first order shipped out to Prestar’s very first customer in Texas! The check from that sale – $11, 708.36 – still hangs on the wall in a commemorative frame to honor a successful beginning.
Craig and Anne were Prestar’s only employees for the first six months, during which Craig taught Anne how to run the box machines, corner cut the board blanks, and miter the paper wraps. They worked exceedingly long hours with their parents watching the boys and helping when possible.
The company incorporated in July of 1995 and the first two employees were hired, one of whom stayed with Prestar for the next twenty years! Finally, full-time production work began with the team transforming chipboard and paper into rigid paperboard boxes that would hold such products as games, pharmaceuticals, saw blades, candy, automotive parts, school supplies, fishing lures, collectible coins, beauty products, and much, much more!
Business grew at such a rapid pace that in 1999, a lot was purchased in the new Falling Branch Industrial Park in Christiansburg. Prestar became the first tenant of that location, building a 20,000 square foot facility. Three new, state-of-the-art automated machines were purchased from Italy over the next several years at a whopping cost of $327,000 to $425,000 each! This allowed Prestar to be nationally competitive by dramatically increasing their output speed with higher quality products coming off the lines.
Prestar has been blessed with dedicated employees from across the New River Valley and West Virginia. It is due to their work ethic and desire to see a small company succeed that has driven all success seen by the company. Prestar employees are cross trained so they can move fluidly from machine to machine as the need arises. Craig and Anne have created such a great work environment that their folks stick in there for the long haul. One employee has been there for sixteen years! Another has been there for eighteen years, and two more for twenty-two years, and they have all become an extension of the Chrisman family.
In 2005, gift cards were becoming the go to gift for celebrations and holidays. To participate in this trend, Craig developed a new style box and insert that would make a bigger presentation of getting a gift card than simply receiving it in an envelope. It took many mockups and discards, but in 2009, Craig finally created Prestar’s Presentation Pop Up Gift Card Box with a U.S. Patent issued for the design. The box was followed by the development of a Presentation Pop Up Gift Card Folder with another U.S. Patent obtained. Millions of these gift card boxes and folders have been sold worldwide with customers including Callaway Golf, The Bellagio, MGM Aria Resort, Ritz Carlton Hotels, Peter Millar, Shoe Carnival, Virginia Lottery, Harley Davidson, Volkswagen, Margaritaville Caribbean, Del Sol, Maui Jim, GolfTEC, Hershey Spa, LobsterGram, Massage Envy, Orange Theory Fitness, Under Armour, and hundreds of others.
All Prestar products are made from recycled materials, are 100% recyclable, compostable, and made in the USA. They make two-piece, bottom and lid boxes; clamshell boxes; hinged neck boxes; three-piece neck boxes; plain stayed boxes; sleeves; boxes with clear lids; folding boxes and mailers; custom inserts; and gift card packaging. Boxes can be wrapped in an endless combination of styles and colors, printing, foil-stamping, embossing, or even plain-stayed with no paper for a great cost-efficient option.
One extremely unique and moving opportunity came after the horrific events of 9/11. Prestar was contacted about making boxes with the U.S. Congressional Seal stamped on the top to hold American Flags that had been flown over the Capital. Once packaged in Prestar’s special boxes, the flags were then given to all the families that had lost loved ones in the attacks, as well as to all the first responders involved. It was a huge task and very time sensitive. Craig and Anne contacted their materials suppliers, requesting assistance with little to no cost. All came through. The desire to support their fellow Americans during such a national tragedy was overwhelming. It was an emotional manufacturing run. Many tears were shed by Prestar employees as the boxes came off the lines and were packed into cartons to be shipped to Washington D.C.
An interesting and fun order came about for the Emmy Awards Governor’s Ball. After the Emmy Awards, there is a dinner for all the nominees. For three years in a row, starting with 2008, Prestar had the honor of making custom boxes to hold the treats that were placed on dinner tables for everyone in attendance. For the first year, Duncan Hines was the sponsor, so four brownies were placed into each box. For their excellent design, the Printing Industry honored Prestar with an award in the category of Presentation Packaging.
For the next two years, the sponsor was Dove Chocolates, so four different chocolate bars went into each box. For the 2010 design, the Printing Industry once again honored Prestar with an award in the category of Confectionary Packaging.
For one of these years, Dove Chocolates shipped six-thousand bars from California to Prestar, arriving the last week of August. Prestar turned the air conditioning down to fifty degrees while running the order so the chocolate wouldn’t melt! A refrigerated truck was waiting for the completed order and took the boxed bars back to California for the Awards Banquet.
All three of the Chrisman boys worked for Prestar during their high school and college years. Taylor, however, was the only one to join the family business. Preston and Parker both graduated from Virginia Tech and followed their dreams. Preston became a Fisheries Biologist for the State of South Carolina while Parker became a Manager with Amazon in Chesterfield, Virginia.
Taylor graduated from Radford University in 2010 with a degree in Business Management and began working out in the manufacturing section to learn all the ropes of the processes involved. In 2011, he became involved in sales. From there, he has continued to grow and develop his knowledge of sales, quoting, shipping, and designing.
Taylor’s wife, Melanie, graduated from Radford University with a degree in Communications. She joined the team in 2020 and handles Prestar’s Special Projects as well as all social media, hiring, fulfilling orders, quoting, and all general areas of customer service. Taylor and ‘Mel’ have become an important and integral part of the family business. As an added bonus, Mel will sometimes bring the grandchildren to visit! Ten-year-old Randy has already begun talking about working at Prestar when he grows up. Maybe the family legacy will continue!
What began as a dream, or nightmare depending on who you ask, has grown to become one of the leading rigid setup paperboard box manufacturers in the United States. With Craig’s knowledge of the industry and all the machines, along with Anne’s financial background, the Chrismans have withstood the rigors of starting and growing their own business for the past twenty-eight years. And they’ve done it while also being married for thirty-nine years and raising a family. Taylor of course married Mel, and the two of them now have three children of their own – Randy, Sutton, and Finn. Preston Married Brie, and they have Grady and Addison. Finally, Parker married Nourdjan, and they have Aidan, Mila, and Charlie. Anne tells us that the support of their sons from the very beginning, and now along with their wives and their own children, have made this incredible journey possible.
Craig Chrisman had a dream of starting his own business. Anne Chrisman thought surely it would a nightmare! But he persisted, and she relented. Twenty-eight years later, they still own and operate Prestar Packaging, Inc. located in Christiansburg, Virginia. The journey was rough and rocky at times, but they endured and have grown their company from just the two of them up to sixteen employees. To this day, they continue the same as when they began all those years ago – investing as much sweat, blood, and tears as do their wonderful and dedicated employees.