Insty Prints Merging with Allegra Eagan
Long-time print shop Insty Prints announced last month they would be shutting down their operations on West 7th and merging with Allegra print shop in Eagan.
Co-owner Michelle Hovde said she decided to make the change when her business partner, Jim Elm, decided to retire this year.
Hovde said she and Elm bought the business in 1997 from their original owner, Frank Schochet, who developed the concept of quick print franchises and started them in Minnesota. She said that Elm was one of the original employees at the first location.
The business has been operating out of 1396 West 7th since 2014. Prior to that, it had been located on West 7th for several decades.
“Our previous location was 2365 West 7th, a re-purposed gas station, a location Frank Schochet selected,” Hovde said. “That became very cramped as our business grew and the owner sold the building before our lease ran out. We then purchased the building and re-located to 1396 West 7th summer of 2014.”
She said she and Elm would be selling the building and all of the equipment in the coming months.
In addition to Elm’s retirement, Hovde said she had been considering a change for a while because of changes in the area, including taxes and access to her existing customer base.
“Eagan has a lower sales tax. Many of our clients had already left St. Paul and a majority of those migrated to Eagan,” she said.
In her new role as a Senior Account Manager with Allegra, Hovde said she will miss the creative aspects of her job as she will be more focused on customer relations.
That said, there are a few things she won’t miss about being a small business owner.
“I no longer have administrative duties. I no longer do the cleaning & lot maintenance,” she said.
Hovde said that, since the merger, she has been reaching out to folks she’s worked with in the past to ensure they don’t miss a beat for their printing needs.
“I’ve been working hard since the merger to add all of West 7th Insty clients to the Allegra system. I have all of the digital art files, physical art files, printed samples and our pricing system so when a client needs to order I have immediate access to everything,” she said, adding that the new facility allows for additional resources like high volume printing and in-house mailing services.
