With the vast majority of greeting card shops in lockdown, specialist greeting card printer, The Imaging Centre, has come up with a solution that is enabling independently owned greeting card publishers to provide the public with their cards.
“Our customers have been incredibly supportive, innovative and creative meaning we have managed to remain operational through this time to continue to produce for the industry and promote card sending which we feel is more poignant now than ever” says managing director Adam Short.
The family-owned Tonbridge-based printer, which up until now has concentrated its efforts on printing cards on behalf of publishers to go straight into retailers, has just gone live with a brand new service offering the public card designs from over 50 greeting card publishers.
“Never has it felt more important to feel connected and be part of a community,” stated Adam Short, managing director, who took over the day to day running of the business from his father Bob (who founded the business) at the start of this year. “We were working really hard to come up with ideas on how to help our customers continue to get their designs out, with the vast majority of their retailer customers having been forced to shut their doors” he explained.
So, encouraged by the enthusiastic response from publishers The Imaging Centre works, IC Simplicity Direct was born in whistlestop time. https://media.theimagingcentre.co.uk/ICSD_storeFront@home.html
Adam is keen to stress that this is a temporary solution to a current situation.
“The last thing we want to do, is compete with retailers. We are simply trying to continue to get publishers’ designs out to people at a time when we feel it’s really needed. Therefore, when we come out of the current situation, and retailers are open and back up and running, we will close down this site.”
“We are also providing DIY card kits that can be ordered direct. We wanted to promote not just greeting card sending but designing. My children have loved creating and sending cards to their family, friends, even leaving cards out for the dustbin men. With many children off of school we wanted to give them the chance to do the same. People can order packs of 24 blank fronted cards to create and send their very own inventions: https://media.theimagingcentre.co.uk/ICSDDIY_storeFront
Designs avalible 
Printing press 
Adam Short (left) with his father Bob, co-founder of the business
