Owner's health forces sale of historic print shop

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 26, 2005 by JIM BAINBRIDGE THE GAZETTE

Gowdy Printcraft Press, one of the 10 oldest continuously operating businesses in El Paso County, is for sale and could close if a buyer is not found.

Jim Grammer, who owns the 112-year-old print shop, said health issues have forced the decision.

Grammer, 63, said he is talking to several prospective buyers, but he declined to name them.

Although there is no timetable for a decision, Grammer plans to cut back the workload in the next few weeks at the shop's warehouse, 22 N. Sierra Madre St.

In a June interview with The Gazette, Grammer said Gowdy was doing 150 to 160 print jobs a month, including college newspapers, fourcolor brochures and books.

"It's not a personnel matter," Grammer said. "It's not that I don't love Colorado Springs. I have developed a serious medical problem, and my doctor has told me I need to get out from under the stress and daily pressure."

Grammer bought the company from the Bernheim family in 2002, marking the third ownership of the company.

He has overseen a transition back to the company's more traditional commercial printing roots. A year ago, he sold rights to printing the four local military base newspapers for an estimated $800,000.

The Bernheim family obtained the company after founder Lee H. Gowdy's death in 1936 and kept it going for nearly 66 years before the sale in 2002. John and Danny Bernheim and their sister, Phyllis Allen, ran the shop after their father, Fred, died in 1997.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0126 or bainbird@gazette.com