The newly opened Minuteman Press printing business franchise in Chehalis has acquired the long-time Chehalis printing business Carroll’s Printing, according to Minuteman owner Daryl Lund.
Lund is also a long-time Chehalis city councilor and the city’s current mayor pro tem, along with being the former owner of the Chehalis Theater in the city’s downtown district, now McFiler’s Chehalis Theater.
Originally created by local photographer Carroll Hill to better fulfill the printing needs of friends and clients he shot photos for, Carroll’s Printing was founded in 1974.
Since it opened, it expanded from not only photo printing but document printing, copying, digital scanning and graphic design services. In 1984, Don Caldwell became business partners with Hill and eventually took over Carroll’s Printing, according to the business’s website.
Then, in 2001, Caldwell retired and turned over the keys to Carroll’s Printing to Linda Hanson, who had spent 13 years working for Lewis County as the printing program manager. Hanson has run the business up until now, Lund said.
“My printer knew that she was wanting to retire,” Lund said.
Minuteman Press stepped in, and as of Jan. 22, officially took over Carroll’s Printing. The merger means Minuteman Press, located at the Lewis County Mall, is getting equipment from Carroll’s Printing along with the business’s current clients.
When The Chronicle visited Minuteman Press on Thursday, Feb. 9., some boxes of supplies transferred over from the old business were still waiting to be unpacked.
“(Hanson) used to be set up there next to Lewis County Chemical, down there on (South) Market Boulevard,” Lund added.
The Chronicle contacted Hanson on Friday to talk a little bit about her 23 years running Carroll’s Printing. She thanked her loyal customers who utilized the business, some of whom Hanson had been working with going back to her time working for Lewis County.
“A lot of those people followed me from when I worked at the county. They just came with me when I bought Carroll’s Printing,” Hanson said. “So I had a huge customer base that stayed with me for all these years, and thank God for them, or I probably wouldn’t have made it.”
She added she sold the business to Lund and Minuteman Press because she felt they would continue to take good care of her customers.
Hanson, 64, is looking forward to working on projects she hasn’t had time to complete along with visiting out-of-state friends and relatives she hasn’t seen for years in her retirement.
As for Minuteman Press, Lund stated business has been going well in his new store since opening this past November.
“I didn’t push it starting out, because I wanted to make sure we had everything we needed and knew what we were doing,” Lund said. “I’m lucky, Robin (Ronnell), the guy that’s standing over there, has been printing since he was eight years old, his parents had a (printing) shop. And Dayton’s (Stanley-Teffeteller) been working at another place in the community for four years, so he has a lot of experience with graphics and things, so I have a real good team now.”
Minuteman Press was originally founded in 1973 as a quick copy center in Plainview, New York. The company began franchising in 1975 and since then has expanded to become an international printing company with nearly 1,000 franchises in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and the U.K., according to its website.
Minuteman Press’s Chehalis location offers a variety of printing and copying services ranging from custom clothing, pens, posters, brochures, business cards and more, along with graphic design services.
It is located in the Lewis County Mall at 151 NE Hampe Way in Chehalis, next to Midway Cinema, and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, call Minuteman Press at 360-345-6813 or visit https://minuteman.com/us/locations/wa/chehalis/.
To learn more about Carroll’s Printing — now merged with Minuteman Press — visit https://www.carrollsprinting.net/.
