Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Sassenfeld.
Hi Kristen, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Afternoon Printing began in a very hot, very cramped garage in 2011. The previous owner owned a record label and realized how badly new bands needed an affordable option to get merch made. Current co-owner, K Sassenfeld worked there in the infancy and through a lot of sweaty nights, it became a passion. When Sofie began as an evening printer, it felt like things were getting bigger. We outgrew several locations until we landed in South Minneapolis where we’ve been for the past 6 years and have really built ourselves into this space. With a lot of hard work, we’ve gained a large client base and continue to work hard to set good expectations for our clients and be a fun environment for our great staff.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There’s no such thing as a smooth road in the fast-paced world of garment decoration. Fussy equipment likes to break down at exactly the wrong time. Really our biggest struggle was keeping up with our growth and maintaining work-life balance. We also want our staff to love their job so it can be tricky sometimes as a small business to provide the same (and sometimes more) luxuries than larger companies.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Afternoon Printing is an employee-owned print shop in South Minneapolis. We specialize in custom screen printed apparel, posters, accessories, and more. We print entirely by hand and each order is treated with a careful attention to detail. Our favorite projects to take on are small runs of custom apparel and art posters. We also love it when people order joke shirts for their friends!
We strive to be kind, affordable, accessible, and all-around good guys in the community. Much of our business comes to us from within a 2-mile radius! We do what we can to help local causes and have raised money for local and national charities over the years. We want to be the best place for our employees to work and we hope that makes us the best print shop to get your gear from.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
We’ve learned that it’s important to try to hold out for your community. We saw a lot of businesses that we loved close during that time and we felt so grateful that we were able to pull through. Turns out people still wanted t-shirts during a pandemic! With such a small crew we were able to make it work and stay safe. There were so many causes at that time and so many neighbors showing up to ask how we could help that we realized it was just important to be able to maintain a relationship and keep the doors open when we could. I felt very awed by the way our customers found ways to continue to support us.
Contact Info:
- Website: afternoonprinting.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afternoonprinting
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afternoonprinting
