Alpha's 30 year history...in a nutshell
1970's: Our baby step into the world of the graphic arts industry was a very small photolettering shop (and when I say small, I mean small). Our first office was not much larger than a broom closet! We had major competition, but quickly made a name for ourselves with our determination to become the best. After listening to our clients beg us to expand into the typesetting arena, we decided — "Oh well, it can't be too difficult!" If we only knew in advance how many all-nighters (annual reports), ruined eyesight (4 point type is a killer), and memory-loss (recognizing hundreds of typefaces), maybe we would have reconsidered. Through the years, we evolved from paper tape (lots of fun reading the holes), to dedicated front-end equipment, to our Mac and PC platform equipment of today.

1980's: Having added camera equipment (again, through urging from our clients), we decided to produce our answer to presstype or INTs. Our Alpha Color system was born and little did we realize that almost 20 years later, we would still be providing museums and galleries all over the country with this product (some things are just too good to change). Desktop publishing (80 meg hard drive will last forever — hah!) entered the world of Alpha. In the late 80's, we moved to 1305 St. Paul Street to (hopefully) have enough space to accommodate our equipment!

1990's: Client needs are changing on a daily basis. More new equipment comes into Alpha — high quality laser printers, laminator, large format printers, binding equipment, and of course the unending upgrades to computers and software. New services evolved from the new equipment — heat transfers for T-shirts, passport photos, black and white monster prints, and more.

2000's: We're are still touting the fact that we are now solely owned by a woman and have fought some long, hard battles to keep our name, and have the best, most loyal, long-time employees and clients in the area! We're still listening to you and adding more equipment and services. Now we are here at the Mill Centre and we want to thank all of you who stuck with us through thick and thin and moves and upgrades. To those of you who would like to find out why we're so darned good, give us a call.

YOUR FRIENDS AT ALPHA