By Callie Hietala
Printing services, in both two and three dimensions, are available in Martinsville and Henry County once again. The Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce welcomed Quantum Copy LLC to the community with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, August 18.
Quantum Copy LLC is owned and operated by Brian Mills and Seth Chandler, two former employees of the recently shuttered Office Max. When that company closed its Martinsville location 10 months ago, Mills and Chandler saw an opportunity to fill a need in the community. They found a storefront at the Holiday Shopping Center, in Collinsville, and started setting up shop.
“We’ve been open for about six weeks, making sure all our equipment is fully functional so that we can help people the way we expected to when we opened the store, and we’ve reached that point,” said Mills.
Both became familiar faces during their time at the former office store. When customers came through the door, they knew and asked for them by name and were comfortable working with them. Mills and Chandler, in turn, knew their regular customers well. It was a natural step, Mills said, for the two to partner on their own print business.
“In my 12 years (at the other company), I think I worked back in print eight of the 12, but I was still part of the process the whole time, so knowing those people for so long, helping them with print and having that disappear in this town was heartbreaking to the point where it seemed I couldn’t stop myself from opening the store, even if I wanted to.”
The shop has everything you could find at one of the big box print shops.
“Think of it as any kind of print retail store. We offer (services) as simple as faxing to full color brochure creation and design. We do banners, posters, yard signs, outdoor materials, weather-proof materials, business cards, invitations, contract books, you name it. Anything on paper, we can help you with.”
Mills, who graduated from Salisbury University in Maryland with a degree in art and design, said in-house design work also is available.
The new business also includes a 3-D printer.
“The 3-D printer is a ton of fun,” said Mills, enthused. “I just made a logo into a keychain for a local business. As soon as that print’s done, I’m going to see if I can make fifty of those for him.”
It was scary, starting a new business, especially coming out of a pandemic, said Mills. “There’s a lot of change, there’s a lot of people starting new businesses. COVID’s changed the world. It’s a little scary.” But it’s also exciting, he said.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to work for myself. It’s much different than working for a company. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s a great freeing feeling, and I’m able to work harder and devote myself more to it than I could in any kind of corporate environment.”
Quantum Copy LLC is located at 1874 Virginia Avenue in the Holiday Shopping Center. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 to 6 p.m. For more information, visit qcopy.net or search Quantum Copy LLC on Facebook.
