Presses stop in Winchester, but The Mainstreeter rolls on
Sudden shutdown of Winchester Print’s newspaper publishing division sends local newspapers scrambling for new printing homes in Montreal and Toronto
MAINSTREETER STAFF
The volunteers of The Mainstreeter, like those at many other community newspapers in and around Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley, woke up to some surprising, sad and daunting news on March 13th. An email from Kent Raistrick, the president of Winchester Print, contained news that his company would cease printing newspapers, including The Mainstreeter, effective that date.
In his email, Raistrick explained that: “(t)his has been our last week printing newspapers. We have found the challenges of the last couple of weeks to be unsustainable, and in some cases insurmountable. We have tried to find replacement staff with no success.”
“Our reputation over the years has been built on always getting a superior product out to our customers on-time, every time. In the last few weeks we have found ourselves unable to meet those requirements and so this has lead to the decision to close the web printing division of the business. We appreciate your business and support over the years.”
The Mainstreeter has been published at Winchester Print for decades, and there is considerable sadness at seeing a mutually-beneficial business relationship with Winchester and the Raistrick family, which owns the company, come to an end.
In tribute to the company and the family, The Mainstreeter expressed thanks to the Raistrick family and to the staff at Winchester Print “… who were always friendly and professional. Many is the time when you went the extra step to help us out when we stumbled in the pre-printing process. For that, all of us here at The Mainstreeter owe you considerable thanks.”
We’re now printed in Montreal
Sadly, with the demise of Winchester, there are no Ottawa-based companies left that can publish The Mainstreeter and the other local community papers left without a printer. As a result, local papers now must be printed either in Montreal or Toronto and transported back to Ottawa. In time to print the current April issue, The Mainstreeter reached agreement with Montreal-based TC Transcontinental, Canada’s largest printer.
“The switchover to the Montreal-based printer was not something we or some of the other local Ottawa papers planned,” said Lorne Abugov, editor of The Mainstreeter.
“But we were able to move quickly after we got the news about the closure of operations in Winchester, and we are already seeing some benefits in the current issue of the newspaper.”
One benefit from the changeover to Transcontinental is the ability to print The Mainstreeter in full colour even when publishing larger 40-page and 48-page issues. While black-and white ads will continue to be available for advertisers, they can now be placed on pages alongside colour ads and articles, something that was not possible in the past.
Abugov recounts one humourous interaction he had with the new printers while conducting due diligence on publishing options for the newspaper. “I emailed Transcontinental to ask them for some current customer references, since we didn’t know much about them at the time. I got a quick response back listing 10 or 12 of their current newspaper clients that they thought I may have heard of, starting with the Globe & Mail, the Montreal Gazette, the Hill Times, the Picton Gazette and the Nipissing Reader,” Abugov recalls. “My response was quick and simple: “Okay, where do we sign!”
So, we’re now rubbing shoulders with the big boys, and while we’re sad to end our long-standing relationship with Winchester Print and the Raistrick family, we’re also looking forward with excitement to our new partnership with Transcontinental.
To mark the end of an era and the start of another, and to take advantage of some of the flexibility and benefits offered by Transcontinental, this issue of The Mainstreeter has received something of a facelift, the first design refresh the paper has undergone in more than a decade.
Computer and printing enhancements with the switchover to Transcontinental have allowed for some nifty visual enhancements to The Mainstreeter. The new look features more colour, updated layout and photo composition and a crisper look.
We know that readers sometimes have mixed feelings about changes to the look of their familiar newspaper. While the consternation is normally short-lived, we do understand the feeling. But hopefully, if you’re not a fan yet, the new look will “grow on you.”
Regardless, we would like to know what you think of the re-design of The Mainstreeter – and we most welcome your comments, both positive and not so positive, as the case may be (please send them to editor@mainstreeter.ca).