Help Launch the PRINT FACTORY in Bellefonte, PA

In honor of Independent Bookstore Day (April 29, 2023), we celebrate the resurgence of small, local, independent bookstores by announcing our own.

Please join us in supporting the Print Factory, a brand-new community-supported and employee-run bookstore and culture space in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Our mission is to support the artistic and intellectual life of the local community by providing a safe, welcoming environment for creative activity and cultural life.

This is a project we have been dreaming about for years, and we are brimming with excitement about giving Bellefonte its first brick-and-mortar bookstore. The Print Factory has signed a renewable 5-year lease on a storefront on Allegheny Street in Bellefonte, PA, and, with your support, we plan to open to the public this fall. The building is currently undergoing renovations. Once these renovations are complete, we can build shelves, outfit the space, decorate the storefront, and stock the bookstore.

Please help us make the Print Factory a reality! We are raising funds for our startup campaign and our first year’s operating budget. This includes:

* shelving materials, equipment, and furnishings

* stocking books

* salary relief for our co-managers, Melissa and Angie

* rent and utilities

About the Print Factory

The Print Factory is an antiracist, feminist, and queer-inclusive artist- and worker-run bookstore and cultural space in the town of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Our mission is to support the artistic and intellectual life of the local community by providing a safe and welcoming environment for creative cultural activity.

As its name suggests, the Print Factory foregrounds the life and liveliness of print media in all its forms, from selling books to hosting readings, workshops, and storytelling events. We are an independent, not-for-profit community space that incorporates the process of print media creation and engagement into the brick-and-mortar bookstore environment.

We are living in a moment after the “death of the independent bookstore.” What this means is that new bookstores are opening around the US, but they are also doing so with a renewed sense of value and purpose—aiming toward the creation of new sites for creativity and community engagement. The Print Factory cultivates an atmosphere of inclusivity to counter the exclusivity and isolation of a largely rural, post-industrial region such as Centre County, Pennsylvania. Our aim is the expansion of the sphere of print culture from its increasingly restricted place in schools and libraries, which have faced budget crises and political challenges of their own. Intellectual life is not a luxury, but a common good.

The management of the bookshop is dedicated to active programming: author events, literacy programs, speaker series, workshops, and residencies.

As an organization we, the Print Factory, are committed to:

• Supporting the cultural, intellectual, and artistic life of the Bellefonte community by hosting literary and cultural events such as readings, workshops, storytelling, and author events.

• Providing a safe space: there’s no room for racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or ableist behavior in our space.

• Support for the independent publishing ecosystem: as much as possible, we support noncorporate presses and distributors that share our values.

• Sustainability: as far as possible, we try to minimize waste, and maximize recycling and reuse.

• Cooperating rather than competing with other area booksellers, libraries, schools, and nonprofit community organizations.

Visit Our Website: www.printfactorybellefonte.org

Who We Are:

Melissa Stitzer

Melissa Stitzer has lived in Bellefonte since 2005. Deciding her undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from Edinboro University was not for her, she then got a Master's degree in Liberal Arts from Lock Haven University and went on to be a small business owner. She was the owner and head baker of The Cakery, a bakery located in downtown Bellefonte, until last year. Melissa is an avid reader and a lover of quaint little bookstores.

Elena Quiñones

Elena Quiñones is an MA/PhD student in the Department of Comparative Literature at Penn State. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Latin American Studies in 2021 then moved to State College to start her graduate program. Elena is passionate about community involvement and volunteers to support local arts programming with 3 Dots in downtown State College and regional LGBTQ+ advocacy with the Centre LGBTQ Support Network. She is excited to be linking her interests in literary studies and community involvement in her work with the Print Factory.

Angela Bowman

Angie Bowman is the owner of the inkSpott, an illustration and design studio in State College. Originally from Lancaster, PA, she recently moved to the area after a 20-year stint in Atlanta. While living in Georgia, she graduated from Reinhardt College with a BA in Liberal Studies. Shortly after graduating, she acquired a small stationery company, which she has evolved into the diverse design studio it is today. Her clients have included companies such as Chic-fil-a. Shutterfly, Food52, and Tiny Prints; Angie also worked as a concept designer for the holiday movie, Elf on the Shelf.

Children’s literature has always been her passion project. While homeschooling her two children, Angie created her own lit-based curriculum for them to study. Now that both of her children are in school full time, Angie finds herself missing children's literature the most. She used to say, “When I grow up, I want to run a bookstore”. Maybe now she should say that she wants to illustrate a children’s book to sell in that store.

Jonathan Eburne

Jonathan P. Eburne has lived in Bellefonte with his family since 2003. Hailing originally from Massachusetts, he teaches literature at Penn State, where he is Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and French and Francophone Studies. He is the author of a number of published scholarly books, essays, and interviews, and has been dreaming of opening a bookstore since moving to Centre County twenty years ago.