A ribbon cutting by the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group ambassadors was held at Iron Leaf Press new location Thursday, Jan. 5.
Iron Leaf Press has been operating in their new space since November 2022.
Owner Danielle Chargo said the final remodels to the space were completed just ahead of Shop Small Saturday, allowing the shop to be open at that time.
Chargo had looked at the space, a portion of the former Shepley Pharmacy building, back in February 2022, and made the commitment to move from her space in the fall. She’s unsure of how long ago the space was previously used as a business, with the best guess being sometime in the late 1970s.
One of the big changes for Chargo has been the ability to house all four of the presses she uses for her card and stationery business.
“In the old location, we were able to house one of the old presses at that space, and I’d have to run home if I had to use any of the others,” Chargo said. “We were just growing too large for the space we were in.”
The new business space has also doubled the space that Chargo had for retail products.
The location, a former service station, had been used for storage for a number of years before renovations this summer and fall were able to make it a business space. Renovations to the rest of the former Shepley Pharmacy building are also continuing.
Iron Leaf Press has also seen an increase in business, especially since the start of COVID-19. During COVID-19, she said many people switched to using personal stationery at that time, and some of that business has continued even after.
“I’m averaging more than 1,000 orders that I ship a year,” Chargo said. “My business has definitely increased every year since the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Stationery, wedding invitations, even poster size projects are among the items that Chargo is able to tackle.
Chargo said she got her passion in printing press, stationery and other products from her background. She started with a degree in graphic design and worked on a smaller press, doing things like wood cuts and linoleum prints. After graduation, she owned an older printing press.
“I started with a larger press, but living in a second story apartment, I couldn’t have it in that space, so it stayed at my dad’s for storage until I opened the business,” Chargo said.
She originally opened at Lisbon in 2013, part of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group’s Bright Ideas program. She outgrew that location and moved to uptown Mount Vernon in 2015.
As well as the room for her presses, the space also has a separate conference room for Chargo to meet with clients about what their stationery needs are.