Batman’s Trophies and Awards has been a staple store in Bridgeport for more than four decades. Founded by Louise and James Batman, the business began in the Batmans’ home and relocated twice on Main Street. It has also changed hands twice, first to Alice and Gary Hoy then to Karen Martin, who along with daughter Laura Pierce, runs operations today.

 

Their engraved trophies, plaques and medals can be seen in trophy cases - and sported by athletes of all ages and skill levels - there is much more to Batman’s and the creativity of Martin and Pierce.

 

“We make gift items and Christmas ornaments by engraving on acrylic, crystal and slate,” Martin said. “We also do sublimation, which is heat pressing designs on metal and fabrics.”

 

Clocks, wooden baseball bats and cutting boards, laser-engraved pens and cups, academic awards, door plaques and leather pieces are among the many items customized at Batman’s.

 

The custom work of the hometown store, including mementos crafted from all types of materials, has been sent all over the world.

 

“We’ve made things which have been shipped to Australia, Africa, South America and all over the place,” Martin said. “In fact, we’ve shipped to six different continents. If we could just get something to Antarctica before I retire, I would be happy.”

 

She has worked on some quite unique projects.

 

“Some pretty neat things have passed through my hands over the years. Two different people brought in materials from the Berlin wall – one was metal and the other concrete,” Martin said. “I also worked with a piece of the floor in Saddam Hussein’s mansion when it was torn down and when some flooring at Boston’s Fenway Park was replaced, I mounted a piece of the old floor on a plaque.”

 

Batman’s ships pieces within the U.S., too, often to Florida, Tennessee and California, among other states.

 

Martin and Pierce create pieces to commemorate graduations and retirements, among other life events. Their customers come in with some pretty crazy ideas – from incorporating shreds of rubber tire to chewed-up pencils in the mementos.

 

Determining how to bond together certain substances creates a challenge, but that’s one of the things Martin likes most about her work.

“I’m the type of person who likes to make things and I do like a challenge,” she said.

 

The former Karen Saas, Martin is a 1978 graduate of Bridgeport High School. She began working for Batman’s in 1994 when it was owned by the Hoys and located in the building presently occupied by Country Peddler. At the time, she just needed a job. But she discovered she had a talent and a passion for the work. She purchased the business in 2005 after it relocated to the corner of Main and Third Streets. Once into the larger location, the business expanded. As technology advanced, new methods have been utilized, too. In addition to sublimation, laser engraving is performed on a regular basis.

 

Martin is not the first generation of her family to own and operate a Bridgeport business. Her mother, the late Elna “Peggy” Alverta Saas, ran City Restaurant after it was passed on to her by her parents, Clarence and Lula Virginia Carder Stewart.

 

Batman’s Trophies and Awards is located at 245 East Main Street. Hours are 8:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.