Last December we were notified our lease was not being renewed, “Be out in two months.” An impossible feat, so we pushed back, and gained a reprieve to May 31, 2024.  Planning and preparations began early January.  First task was to find convenient, nearby warehouse space as temporary storage and as a location for lots-to-bid-on in a High Bids Win auction.  By happenstance, a former Letterpress Services customer graciously stepped up offering both available space and utilities, and moving stuff began soon after. Open Dates continued into April while behind the scenes decisi ..read more

In late May 2024, after almost completing our exhausting removal of everything (equipment, machines and presses; cabinets—both empty and with type; shelving, counters, tables and tools; dozens and dozens of cartons packed/palletized with inventory supplies, books, paper, ephemera and more) from our original store in Chicopee, MA to a temporary storage facility nearby, an impromptu visit to a former LPS print shop customer led to the availability of space in their building.  Following a brief tour and several hours of intense and freewheeling discussion of all the possibilities the locatio ..read more

With a touch of sadness yet with great anticipation we announce that Letterpress Things must move from 55 North Chicopee Street For 23 years here in Chicopee, MA the fourth floor of an old New England mill building has been the repository of “things” letterpress and the destination of 100’s of letterpress practitioners. For many beyond the area, the occasional “View from the 4th “ photos highlighted the scenery to the West, the vagaries of our seasons and offered a sense of being here. Shortly before Christmas last December, new building owners informed us that our lease would not be renewed ..read more

This Saturday - the 18th - is our 23rd Anniversary! Today’s Anniversary Year Gift List details “Air” as the theme. Appropriate this year in an odd way! The weekend before Thanksgiving in 2000 we walked up four flights of stairs to begin setting the Store up. It was warehouse space, and therein, heat was set at about 55 degrees. Period! For the next 20 winters, we existed wearing layers, wool socks and finger-tip-less gloves. Many of our letterpress visitors through the years can remember - and take pride in - having experienced and perserved the chill of the winter months. In 2019, a new heati ..read more

It’s October. . . and we’re westward bound once again to Carson, CA for the 2023 edition of the International Printing Museum’s Annual Printing Fair. Dates for the event are Saturday, October 21st and Sunday, October 22nd - both days 10 am to 4 pm. As in years past, our location is in one corner under the tent in the parking lot, near the stockade fence and benches where all our pizza boxes get lined up. (1) Preparations begIn about three weeks prior to the event and we start with an empty crate, lots of small boxes and larger cartons. (2) All sorts of letterpress stuff — type, icons, wood t ..read more

In a few days the Barrett’s will slip out-of-town for a long awaited, dearly needed vacation. Historically, we’d close our businesses - Letterpress Services and Letterpress Things - the latter part of June and travel off to some far-away place to rest and rejuvenate. No difference this year, , , in a few days we’re on a plane once again to a funfilled location! Destination, , , well, we’ll tell you all about it in a couple of weeks. One of the great things during vacation. . we always celebrate our Anniversary while away. No difference this year. . . except this year it’s our 50th!!! So, we wi ..read more

This weekend — Saturday and Sunday, June 3rd and 4th — we’re having a good ole’ fashioned “Letterpress Swoop.” What’s that you may ask? That’s when a large assemblage of letterpress stuff is gathered up in one place. In the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, often times it was right in an actual print shop that was closed, or about to close. Word would spread throughout the letterpress community; on the given date(s) the shop owner opened the doors and, like locusts, letterpressers would come in swarms. Many of today’s “mature” letterpress craftspeople got their start or greatly enlarged their shops by at ..read more

JoAnn's knee replacement surgery and convalescence is now well behind her!  The surgery went flawlessly; physical therapy early on was a bit rugged, but she has persevered, even now continues to exercise.  In fact, after only eight weeks, she was back on hand last Saturday, greeting friends and visitors during our first Open Date of 2023!     As for the Store, in early December a long overdue reorganization of the "Front End" began.  Plans were to not open until everything was in "place."  However, great plans sometimes take longer than anticip ..read more

It took us almost three weeks to select, clean, gather, wrap, box and pack up a little more than 1,000 lbs. of type, plates (plus a variety of "one-of-a-kind" items). And as usual, a heaping table full of supplies for the working printer for this weekend’s Los Angeles Printers Fair at the Printing Museum in Carson, CA. This shipment set a Letterpress Things record for variety and weight, so we expect that whatever you think you might need, want, or learn about from some of the best minds in letterpress will be at your fingertips on Saturday and Sunday. If we can’t entice you to take a trip to ..read more

Admittedly it’s a bit late getting this blog post up for Saturday. Our focus since our return from the Lancaster Fair is on gathering/boxing stuff to be crated for shipping to Carson, CA in about a week. But we are open this Saturday the 1st as well as October 15th and 29th. Of course, you’ll see us on the West Coast at the International Printing Museum in Carson on the 22nd and 23rd. For Saturday, there are a few wood type fonts left from Lancaster. Two small shops were retrieved recently; both had some additional fonts are now out on the floor. And we’ve been working doggedly to process out ..read more