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Welcome to the Print Factory

Writer's picture: Jonathan EburneJonathan Eburne


Thank you for being a friend of the Print Factory! We are writing to you today—Independent Bookstore Day— to keep you up to date about our progress.

A lot has happened in the past few months, and our big announcement today is that WE WILL BE OPENING IN THE FALL! We have signed a lease on a storefront in downtown Bellefonte, PA, and while the space is undergoing renovation over the summer, we will be continuing to build our organization and to prepare for our public opening.As of today, you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and you can visit our new web page, designed by Angie (Bowman) and Ella Freda.

We are also launching a campaign on GoFundMe to continue raising funds for our startup campaign and—in particular—to support 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

Please remember that the Print Factory is a nonprofit bookstore and culture space (you can read our mission statement here).



Our Story

Founded in 2023, the Print Factory has been years in the making. We first started making noises about opening a bookstore in the town of Bellefonte, PA, over a decade ago, and returned to the project in earnest during the COVID pandemic.

It’s something our team have been thinking about—dreaming about— for a very long time, and we are brimming with excitement about giving Bellefonte its first full-time brick-and-mortar bookstore. The Print Factory is 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.

Nestled among the limestone ridges of central Pennsylvania, Bellefonte is situated thirteen miles from Penn State University, and has long been an important site of literary and artistic activity. Dig a little into Bellefonte's history, and the evidence of our bookish past begins to accumulate: Sylvia Beach was a frequent visitor to the town during the early years of the twentieth century, where she regularly visited her grandparents before moving to Paris and founding the iconic Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in 1919. The Print Factory is founded on the premise that the most important places for creativity and inventiveness are those that are local, accessible, and near-at-hand. We are excited to make this vision a part of Bellefonte’s future.

Our project began in earnest at the height of the COVID pandemic, when the need for community—and for safe, welcoming, antiracist and queer-positive cultural spaces—became increasingly urgent. Over the spring and summer of 2020, our team began meeting informally with local teachers, students, and other community members to share ideas about how Bellefonte would benefit from a new cultural space. These meetings continued through the years that followed, years marked profoundly by the #BlackLivesMatter movement and struggles to defend the rights—and lives—of BIPOC kids and adults, as well as queer and trans kids and adults. We wanted to create a space in rural central Pennsylvania that could be “open” for public use, especially for people who tend to be marginalized in the community, and yet also maintained and self-organized in fostering meaningful creative communities and events.

Thanks to 3dotsdowntown in nearby State College, PA, who served as our Fiscal Sponsors, we began the process of incorporating in Fall 2022. In January 2023, we hosted our first outreach event, a zine-making workshop at My Café Buzz hosted by artist Maggie Rose Condit-Summerson (story to follow in our next newsletter). We also held a “community love” event on February 14 at 3dots and a bullet journal workshop at Titan Hollow in March. Further pop-up events will continue over the summer until we begin hosting them at the Print Factory itself!


As of April 2023 we have signed a renewable 5-year lease on a storefront on Allegheny Street in Bellefonte. The building is currently undergoing renovations. Once these renovations are complete, we will build shelves, outfit the space, decorate the storefront, and stock the bookstore. With the support of our community in Centre County and beyond, we plan to open the Print Factory to the public in Fall 2023.

Stay Tuned:

We have been inspired by local and regional community arts and literacy organizations as work toward our vision for the Print Factory, so as we plan the details of our space, we are eager to connect with people involved in those spaces.

We are looking forward to building community involvement at the Print Factory! As opportunities to participate—visiting, volunteering, staffing, board member-ing—arise, we will announce them through our newsletter and social media.

In the meantime, you can always get in touch with us via email at: printfactorybellefonte@gmail.com


Thank you for supporting the Print Factory! We look forward to speaking with you and hearing your ideas.

With our very best wishes, Melissa, Jonathan, Angie and Elena


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1 Comment


Martha Evans
Martha Evans
Nov 23, 2024

May this project flourish!

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