5 minute read
JUST OUR TYPE
SOPRANO, HIGH STREET
CHAPEL PLACE
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PRINTED IN THE TOWN CENTRE for the town centre!
WWW.KALLKWIK.CO.UK/TUNBRIDGEWELLS
The Business Improvement District’s town centre magazine doesn’t just feature our businesses - it’s made by them! Hot off the press, we visit Kall Kwik, Camden Road.
Kall Kwik, located on the bustling Camden Road in Tunbridge Wells, was taken over by print specialists Wendy Archer and Graham Noakes in 2015. One of 53 Kall Kwik branches across the UK, the Royal Tunbridge Wells store has been in the town since the 1980s, and is now the most successful Kall Kwik in Kent under Wendy and Graham’s leadership.
“We’re Wendy and Graham from Kall Kwik on Camden Road. We specialise in providing high quality design and print services for local businesses in Tunbridge Wells and beyond. Prior to working here, I managed Kall Kwik in Maidstone,” Graham tells us. “We’ve both been in print since leaving school - Wendy is even married to a printer!”
TOWN CENTRE STAFF STAR IN EACH ISSUE
CHRIS POTTER COUNTRY SPORTS “When the opportunity came up to take over Kall Kwik in Tunbridge Wells, we thought, ‘why not?’ and here we are now, seven years later. We are still our own business as a franchise, but we have the benefits of tapping into other branches if there’s a job we can’t do or need help with, and vice versa,” Wendy explains. “Everything is our own decision, and we are still effectively a small independent business in the town.
Printing the RTWT Magazine, as well as materials for the BID’s events, including Art Week and the Royal Tunbridge Wells Cake Off, is the “bread and butter of what we do” according to Wendy and Graham. “We love printing the magazine – it’s lovely to see it all come together, and we get so many compliments on them,” Wendy says, smiling. “It’s the sort of job that we relish because we know how much of a positive impact it will have locally, for the businesses who are featured in it.”
Kall Kwik also produced the Art Week colouring book, featuring drawings by multiple local artists, which has been flying off the shelves ever since it was made available. “The colouring book was amazing to do,” Graham tells us. “We get a real sense of satisfaction from it, from creating something that looks beautiful, and then we get lovely comments from everyone who comes to pick one up because they think it’s beautiful too. You feel really proud of yourself, and you’re also honouring the artists who created the drawings themselves by doing a really good job on the printing.”
Wendy and Graham were blown away by the number of people coming through their door every day to pick up a colouring book or two. “People are still coming in now, asking for the colouring book. It’s been so incredibly popular. We printed the first 1,000 copies, and they were gone so quickly that we had to print another 1,000 in half the time!
It’s great when you do multiple materials for one job,” Graham says. “You’ve got the colouring book, and the pull up banners, and the selfie boards – you’re doing a lot of stuff for the same event, but when you look at them all at the end, it’s lovely to see it all come together.”
It’s clear that being involved in RTWT initiatives gives local businesses like Kall Kwik a real sense of community. “Events like Art Week have boosted the sense of togetherness in the town massively,” Graham exclaims. “Businesses that wouldn’t ordinarily talk to each other are getting to know each other, which is fantastic. The local community spirit is so important in Tunbridge Wells.
If we were going to try and advertise ourselves, we would say that the Art Week project is a perfect example of what we do,” Graham continues. “It was multiple materials, completed in a very quick timeframe – when a job goes as well as the colouring book did, and you need another 1,000 books quickly, the advantage we have here is the number of machines we’ve got to be able to handle it. We can turn around a job in a short space of time, to a really high standard, and that’s what we see as our USP and our specialism.”
Like the rest of the town, businesses have come and gone on Camden Road over the years, but Graham and Wendy are seeing plenty of new faces. “Camden Road is the best it’s been for a long time,” Wendy says. There were far more empty shops on this road four or five years ago, and now they’ve been taken by some really lovely businesses. It feels like the road is busy and thriving – to see every shop full is fantastic.” Kall Kwik is the go-to printer for many of their neighbours, both new and old, and Wendy and Graham support them in return. “We’re really neighbourly, and we all try to use each other’s businesses,” Wendy explains. “We print materials for quite a number of the businesses on this road. They don’t have to use us, but they do because they want to support us, and we want to support them. The local community makes the job - you can be having an off day, and someone will come in to make you smile.”
Alongside printing and designing for local businesses, Kall Kwik also produce orders of service for weddings and funerals. “When people come in and see it in print for the first time, and they’ve got a tear in their eye…it just really makes the job,” Wendy says. “It’s so lovely to see their reaction, especially for something so personal and emotive.”
“I’m always amazed by how many strangers we get through the door every day, asking for so many different things – something, somewhere along the line must be working,” Graham concludes. “We’ve got the machinery, the space, the expertise, and the ability to complete large jobs in a short time, without compromising on quality or great customer service, and that’s what we do best. We love a challenge!”
To find out more about Kall Kwik, visit www.kallkwik.co.uk/tunbridgewells, or call 01892535100 ■