Canal Street print shop hopes to make impression on downtown

LACONIA — John Bethell knew he wanted a couple of things for his life after his Navy career. He knew he wanted to start a print shop, and he knew he wanted to be part of an up-and-coming downtown area.

That’s when Warren Thompson, his business partner and another Navy veteran, sent him a listing for the U-Frame We Frame business on Canal Street in Laconia. Bethell looked into the business listing, and Googled the city.

“It seemed like it was perfect,” Bethell said.

The two Navy men purchased the frame shop that had been owned by Kevin Rines and, in recent years, operated by his daughter, Sara, and renamed it Piedmont Print and Frame, and opened the doors in March.

As the name entails, Bethell and Thompson aren’t just taking over the frame business, they’re adding a new service to downtown: an old-fashioned letterpress.

“I wanted to be part of a downtown that was coming back,” said Bethell, and what better way to do that than with a trade that is similarly on the rebound.

Letterpress printing, once the standard way to get multiple copies of printed materials made, involves the use of a printing press which presses an inked, raised surface or typeface into paper, imparting not just pigment but also an impression onto the paper.

Bethell said that letterpress printing fell out of mainstream favor when more modern printing techniques were established, which could make many more copies at lower cost. However, whenever decisions are made in the name of quantity, quality is often sacrificed. As such, there are times when letterpress printing still has an edge – such as in making formal invitations, or personal calling cards – over more modern products.

“There’s something about the craftsmanship,” Bethell mused, looking at the three presses in their shop, each made of cast iron and each more than 100 years old. They press type to paper with force greater than two tons. To honor those machines, they use thick, high-quality paper stock and ink they mix in-house to a customer’s specifications.

Using a letterpress involves creativity, as well as the precision that was instilled in Bethell and Thompson during their military service.

“You get to work with the art side of your brain and the science side of your brain,” Bethell said.

However, since Piedmont opened, they’ve had little time to work their letterpresses, because the framing business hasn’t let up.

“It’s been pretty crazy, we’ve been nonstop,” said Thompson, who handles the frame fitting side of the business.

When they wrote their business plan, the conventional wisdom called for them to identify their smallest viable market and aim to build their business on that market. That advice, though, greatly underestimated the demand for framing services in Laconia.

It likely has something to do with the sterling reputation that Kevin and Sara Rines left behind, and it might have been boosted by the expendable income provided by federal stimulus programs. Whatever the cause, it’s been driving people from all walks of life to their door.

They could be asked to frame all sorts of images: Original artwork, high-quality prints, old family photographs, or newspaper clippings. All of them have something in common, though, and that’s an attachment felt by the customer.

“You’re not going to frame something that’s worthless,” Bethell said. Once that is understood, it follows that the framer’s most valuable stock in trade is trust. Customers come in carrying something that has irreplaceable value to them, and trust that they’ll take good care of it.

“That’s really powerful to play that role,” Bethell said. The first step in engendering that trust is showing a willingness to listen to the importance of the item. “If you take the time to ask, they will tell you their story.”