Our History


Hello everyone! My name is Taylor Bove-Koeninger and this is my dad Tom Bove.

In 1958 my grandpa bought an empty hole in the ground on the corner of Galbraith and Waldman. 900 tandem dump truck loads of dirt later, Babe Bove Motors Inc was born. In 1966 my dad joined the family business washing cars for 25¢. Unfortunately, in 1969, the family business was destroyed by a tornado but rebuilt with the addition of Key-N-Lock Storage in 1977. Being the business minded family the Boves were, my dad opened the Village Drive Thru in 1979 as well as Conehead Dairy Whip. He served many customers in that drive-thru window and made many great memories but was forced to close in 1993 when Cross County opened. My grandpa could never sit still, so he started cutting vinyl by hand. After realizing this could be a viable business opportunity, he purchased a cutter and thus AAA Sign and Banner was born. My dad and grandpa grew the sign business together until my grandpa's retirement in 2011. AAA Sign and Banner turned into an empire for my dad, serving fleets and individuals alike.

In the later years, he dabbled with printing t-shirts as a side hustle. Knowing my dad, that didn’t last long as a side hustle, and it eventually turned into a main source of income not long after. I began coming down on Fridays for 2 years and as of October 3rd, 2022 have since taken over the t-shirt business. I changed the name to 400 East Apparel to commemorate the family business that has been on the same 400 East Galbraith Road corner for 64 years. I aim to provide businesses, teams, police, fire, and service departments and everyone in between with quality custom apparel. Keep a look out on our page for what we’re up to in our shop!