Plum Grove Printers officially opened on the last day of the year in 1980. Back then, businesses didn’t have scanners or copy machines. So Plum Grove launched as a quick printing company, because people needed stuff quickly and they needed it printed on plain paper. When we first opened there was a printer on every corner – like coffee shops today. There were over 30 printers in our local area alone, one in every shopping center.

When we designed a form for a client, we drove a proof to their office for review. We made more deliveries in the early ’80s than we do today because people didn’t have fax machines or copiers, the Internet or email. If a business needed 50 copies of a document, they called us for pickup or brought it into our shop. We printed it, and we delivered it back to them. That’s how the business was born.

Top printed projects in demand in the ’80s were transactional papers, like forms, checks, carbonless forms, paper forms that were necessary to keep businesses organized and running. Informational projects were also frequently requested, including directories, catalogs, how-to instruction books and manuals. Businesses had no alternative way to get information into the hands of their staff or customers other than ink on paper. Of course, that all changed over the next 30 years with advances in technology.