'This business was part of my family': Hackensack print shop to close after 50 years

HACKENSACK — A third-generation Main Street small business will close at the end of the month as a wave of development continues to transform the city's downtown.

The building that was home to O'Shea Printing & Graphics, a family-run print shop for more than 50 years, is set to be demolished, clearing the way for the construction of luxury apartments in its place.

When Erin Bracken’s grandparents opened the store a half century ago, Hackensack’s downtown was still a bustling shopping district. The Paramus malls were in their infancy and had just begun to siphon shoppers away.

Now, as development booms along Main Street, which city officials say needed revitalization after decades of decline, Bracken is packing up, selling equipment and preparing to close.

“It’s emotional that this chapter of my family’s history is coming to an end,” she said. “Running the business never felt like a money-making operation to me. What felt important was the family business and our relationships with our customers over the years.”

Bracken, 38, first learned of the proposed development — a 130-unit six-story apartment building that would replace her store, four other buildings and a parking lot on Main Street — in February from reading about it in the newspaper. Initially she was told she had to leave the building in April but after speaking to the landlord was given until Aug. 1.

Many of the buildings on the block between Maple Avenue and Clinton Place, including the former Main Street landmark Bruce the Bed King store, are vacant, but two businesses — a Salvadorian restaurant and law office — are also closing to make way for the development.

The developer is preparing to submit site plans for the project to the city Planning Board for its review next month.

The face of the city’s downtown is changing as mixed-use buildings replace aging storefronts and vacant lots. But some worry the city will become less affordable as construction continues and longtime residents and businesses will be priced out.

Several businesses that own their buildings have opted not to sell and are now surrounded by new development. In Bracken’s case she was on a month-to-month lease and didn’t have an option to stay. After learning of the building’s planned demolition, she looked for another location in Hackensack but was unable to find something in her budget. After closing the store she may work with another area printer, she said.

“There's so much uncertainty right now. It's been stressful,” she said. “Development isn’t a bad thing — I think it’s good we’re not just stagnant and becoming a ghost of a city. But Hackensack has a lot of businesses and organizations that have been part of our community for so long. To let them slip away is a shame.”

Bracken, a lifelong Hackensack resident, remembers walking to the shop from Holy Trinity School just a few blocks away and spending afternoons doodling and drawing pictures at the light table.

She began working full time in the shop about 15 years ago and inherited the business after her mother died of breast cancer in 2010.

An employee left just before COVID hit and was not replaced, so for the past two years she’s been alone as she worked to adapt the business to weather the pandemic. Many customers’ needs changed practically overnight — fundraising galas and other events were canceled; printed forms and journals went digital.

The store’s clients included local businesses, community groups like Boy Scout troops, schools, libraries and nonprofits, and families looking to print wedding invitations or birth announcements.

The shop has worked with the Bergen Irish Association for decades, and would create materials for the group's annual fundraiser dance.

“They’ve been a real steady go to business in Hackensack for many years,” said the organization’s president, John O’Shea, no relation to Bracken’s family. “The service you get with a small family-run business is so much more personable. It’s a sad day to see them close.”

Sharon Collins, who is opening a nursery school in Waldwick, said Bracken recently designed a sign for the building, picked it up from the manufacturer and even helped her to hang it.

“She went above and beyond with every single project. We were all heartbroken when we heard she was closing,” Collins said.

For Bracken, the store is filled with memories: of her and her sisters doing homework on desks in the back room, and of watching as her grandparents and parents helped customers.

As she’s been packing and putting things into boxes, she’ll find an item, a form or a piece of paperwork, “but it’s got my grandfather’s handwriting, and it’s bittersweet,” she said.

The other day, she came across her grandparents’ Bible. It was given to them when they married and held pages of names and dates of family members’ baptisms, confirmations and weddings.

“That wasn’t kept at their home. That was kept at the business. This business was part of my family,” Bracken said. “To me, it’s more than a business closing — it’s my family’s story. That’s what feels like such a loss.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: O'Shea's print shop in Hackensack to close after 50 years